Safe Sunday-What to do if your child is cyberbullied

Cyberbullying is something that is serious to me.

And not just because of what is going on in the blogsphere. (scroll down to see that)

In high school, a teen who claimed to be my "best friend" ran a daily blog for 6 months that trashed me. I was so devastated when I discovered the blog that I attempted suicide.

Also, I have 4 siblings and I'd be furious to find out one of them was being cyberbullied.

What is cyberbullying? Cyberbullying is...
*electronic bullying or online social cruelty, is defined as bullying:

* through email
* through instant messaging
* in a chat room
* on a website or gaming site
* through digital messages or images sent to a cellular phone

So, if you find out your child or teen is being cyberbullied; what do you do?

First, you need to gather proof. This means taking a screenshot, saving the e-mail(s), saving a log of the IM conversation, saving the text message; basically gathering as much of the proof of cyberbullying as possible. Talk in an supportive manner to your child/teen and get all the story you can from them. Reassure them this is not their fault and you will work together on this.

Now what? Well, if this is being done through school, many schools have policies against cyberbullying and will revoke computer use rights for students involved as well as possible suspension. So make an appointment ASAP with the principal and/or guidance department. Bring all of your proof.

If it is being done through Myspace, report it here: http://faq.myspace.com/app/home by going to the side and clicking "contact Myspace"

If it is on Twitter, ask your child/teen to contact the http://twitter.com/spam account.

If it is on Facebook, you need to e-mail abuse@facebook.com

If it is on a Wordpress blog, you need to report it through here: http://en.wordpress.com/report-spam/

Sadly, Blogger will NOT remove personal attacks without a court order.

If it is elsewhere, you need to look for a "report abuse" section.

Several sites I have read say is NOT a good idea to go the bully's parents first.

If your child or you are being cyberbullied and can't figure out how to report, please do e-mail me at autielady[at]live.com (replace the "[at]" with @) and I will try to assist.