BULLYING

1
BULLYING

• INFORMATION AND INTERVENTION

2
Training Objectives

• Recognize the different forms of Bullying
• Recognize the Warning Signs that a Child is Being
  Bullied
• Identify ways parents or other adults can help a
  child who is being bullied
• Identify things children can do if they are being
  bullied
• Identify things children can do if they witness
  bullying

3
Training Objectives

• Recognize how technology can be used to bully
  children
• Identify internet terms such as blogs and chat
  rooms
• Identify reasons why kids cyber bully
• Identify what parents can do if their child is
  being bullied on-line
• Recognize ways teens and children can protect
  themselves on-line

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What is Bullying?

• Bullying is intentional harm inflicted on another
  person over a period of time. A child who is
  bullied finds it difficult to defend themselves.
• Bullying can be physical, verbal and emotional.
• Cyber Bullying involves using computers and
  Mobile Bullying or Text Bullying involves using
  cell phones to bully other students.

5
Physical Bullying

• Examples of Physical Bullying
• ? Hitting
• ? Kicking
• ? Punching
• ? Shoving
• ? Pushing

6
Verbal and Emotional Bullying

• ? Examples of Verbal Bullying
• ? Teasing
• ? Name Calling
• ? Examples of Emotional Bullying
• ? Rumor Spreading
• ? Social Exclusion Leaving someone
  
• out of a group

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Warning Signs a Child is Being Bullied

• Comes home with torn or damaged clothing
• Comes home with missing books or other belongings
  
• Unexplained bruises, cuts or scratches
• A child may appear sad, anxious or depressed,
  when he or she goes to school in the morning or
  comes home from school.

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Warning Signs a Child is Being Bullied

• Frequently has stomachaches or headaches when it
  is time to go to school
• Children who are bullied may be students who
  used to have a great interest in school but now
  does not.

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Effects of Bullying

• A child who is bullied may feel they have nowhere
  to turn. They're depressed children whose
  self-esteem will be lowered due to the bullying.
  These are children who often feel like no one
  cares for them. They may attempt suicide, or seek
  revenge against those who have hurt them, due to
  the repeated abuse and torment they receive.

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What Can Parents Do if Their Child is Bullied?

• Parents must be supportive and ask their child
  about bullying incidents. It is important for
  parents to let their child know they are
  concerned and care about them.
• Parents need to contact the school their child
  attends. Teachers and the school principal should
  be alerted about the bullying incidents. Parents
  can also ask teachers and/or principal if they
  have ever observed students bullying their child.

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What Can Parents Do if Your Child is Bullied?

• Parents should keep a journal of the bullying
  events their children reports to them.
• If a child is being bullied, parents should not
  wait for the children involved to "work it out
  themselves." This is rarely effective. Allowing
  bullying to repeatedly occur, with no
  intervention, can greatly impact a child's health
  and mental well-being.

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What Can A Child Do if They Are Bullied?

• It is important for children to tell their
  parents, teachers, school resource officer, or
  other adults they trust about the bullying.
• Children who are bullied need to know that being
  bullied is not their fault.
• Children should not fight back. Fighting back
  will get them in trouble.

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What Can A Child Do if They Are Bullied?

• Children should avoid situations where they may
  be bullied and use a "buddy system." Common
  places where children are bullied at school
  include hallways, the bathroom, or cafeteria.
• Children who are bullied should sit up front on
  the school bus where they can be seen.
• If a child is bullied, they can tell the bully to
  stop and then walk away. They must then
  immediately tell an adult what has happened. This
  is telling, not tattling.

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What Can A Child Do if They Witness Bullying?

• Bully By-Standers are children who witness
  bullying. Many kids witness bullying, but they do
  nothing to stop it.
• They may even participate in the bullying by
  laughing or joining in. Children should not laugh
  at the bully. This only reinforces their
  behavior.
• Witnesses to bullying incidents should tell an
  adult what they have seen.

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What Can A Child Do if They Witness Bullying?

• Bully By-Standers can tell the bully to stop, but
  only if they feel comfortable doing this.
• Children who have witnessed bullying can give
  support and encouragement to the person who is
  being bullied.

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Using Technology to Bully

• Not all bullying behaviors happen at school
• Many children (and in some cases adults) use
  technology such as computers and cell phones to
  torment and bully other children
• Text messages and e-mails can be used to
  humiliate another person

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Cyber Bullying

• Examples of Cyber Bullying
• ?Threatening and intimidating E-Mails
• ?Harassing and Threatening Instant
  
• Messages (IM)
• ?Sending or posting cruel rumors about
• someone to damage their reputation
• ?Posting inappropriate pictures of someone
  
• on-line (locker room pictures for example)

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Cyber Bullying

• Cyber Bullying also can include
• ? Breaking into someones account, posing
• as that person, and sending messages
• that make the person look bad. This is
• why its very important for children not
  to
• give out their passwords to their friends.
  

19
Mobile Bullying

• Examples of Mobile Bullying or Text Bullying
• ?Mean or Offensive Text Messages?Receiving a
  Large Number Messages a
• Day (e.g. over 25 a day)?Offensive or
  Upsetting Photos or Videos?Threatening Text
  Messages

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Internet Definitions

• Many adults in the United States do not
  understand cyber bullying because they are not
  familiar with computer terms or the applications
  their children are participating in on-line. The
  following slides describe some internet
  applications.

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Internet Definitions

• Blog A blog, or web log, is an on-line web site
  that contains journal and diary entries, photos,
  and other images. Blogs are very popular with
  teens. Parents should ask their child if they
  have created a blog. Some popular blog web sites
  include Xanga, MySpace, Friendster, Facebook and
  others. Parents can always ask their child to
  show them their blog.

22
Internet Definitions

• Chat Real time communication between two users
  via computer. Once a chat has been initiated,
  either user can enter text by typing on the
  keyboard and the entered text will appear on the
  other user's monitor. Most networks and online
  services offer a chat feature.
• Chat Room A virtual room where a chat session
  takes place.
• (Webopedia)

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Internet Definitions

• Instant Messaging, or IM Real time communication
  exchanged between two people (or more) on-line
  using typed words as the form of communicating.
  Ask your child if they are instant messaging and
  who they IM or chat with on-line. Learn what your
  children are saying on-line. Chat lingo has
  become the new way to communicate. For example,
  P911 means parents are coming. LMIRL means
  lets meet in real life. PA means parent alert.
  

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How Prevalent is Cyber Bullying?

• 22 of students know someone who has been bullied
  on-line.
• 19 of students admit to saying something hurtful
  to others on-line.
• 12 of students have personally became upset by
  strangers on-line.
• (2005-06 i-SAFE pre-assessment survey of 13,000
  students in grades 5-12)

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Why Do Kids Cyber Bully?

• Many times cyber bullying or mobile bullying is
  an extension of bullying that is occurring at
  school.
• Sometimes cyber bullying is based on hate or
  bias.
• Some children see cyber bullying as being
  entertaining.

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Why Do Kids Cyber Bully?

• When friendships crumble or relationships
  dissolve, one person may use the internet or cell
  phones to bully the other person.
• Sometimes the cyber bully may be a stranger to
  the victim. Many times when people use the
  internet, they feel as if theyre invisible. They
  will type things on-line they would not say in
  public.

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Effects Of Cyber Bullying

• Many children who are cyber bullied are also
  children who are bullied every day in school.
  While school lets out for the day, cyber bullying
  does not have a time frame. These children are
  bullied 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There
  is no escape for them.
• They may not tell they are being bullied because
  children may fear losing their computer if they
  tell what is happening to them on-line.

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Warning Signs a Child is Being Bullied On-Line

• Children who are cyber bullied may be children
  who were always chatting with their friends
  on-line. Now they have no interest in using the
  internet.
• They may show fear or distress after using the
  internet.
• Children who are bullied on-line may be hiding
  information by quickly switching computer screens
  when their parents come into the room.

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What Can Parents Do if Their Child is Bullied
On-Line?

• Parents and guardians must save the evidence from
  cyber bullying. Save e-mails and chat sessions.
  Download all web pages.
• If you do not know who the cyber bully is,
  contact your Internet Service Provider or another
  company that will trace the identity of the
  person on-line.

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What Can Parents Do if Their Child is Bullied
On-Line?

• Change your childs e-mail address or usernames,
  or block or filter further communications from
  the cyber bully.
• Let the Internet Service Provider know the cyber
  bullying incidents are occurring.
• If the cyber bullying is occurring through the
  use of a blog (MySpace, Friendster, etc), contact
  the provider.

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What Can Parents Do if Their Child is Bullied
On-Line?

• If the cyber bullying is about threats,
  harassment, obscene messages and images, sexually
  explicit images, or hate, contact your local
  police department or the Cybertipline. This
  national hotline is operated 24-hours a day, 7
  days per week online at www.cybertipline.com or
  by calling 1-800-843-5678.

32
Cyber Bullying Prevention Tips for Children and
Teens

• Children should never post their full name, age,
  address, name of their school, or any other
  identifying information on-line. They should not
  give out personal information to people they are
  chatting with on-line if they do not know them
  in real life. Friends names, ages, addresses, or
  other identifying information should not be
  posted on-line. Posting their information puts
  them at risk.

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Cyber Bullying Prevention Tips for Children and
Teens

• Children and teens should not give out passwords
  to anyone but their parents or guardian.
• The privacy settings of social networking sites
  (MySpace, Friendster, etc.) should be set so that
  other users can only be added if the child
  approves them.

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Cyber Bullying Prevention Tips for Children and
Teens

• Teens should not allow other internet users to
  read their blog or site if they do not know them.
• Users should not be added to Instant Messaging
  lists unless the child knows them in real life.

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Cyber Bullying Prevention Tips for Children and
Teens

• Teens should not respond to inappropriate and
  lewd comments. They should report anything they
  see or receive on-line that makes them feel
  uncomfortable to their parents, guardian, or
  other trusted adult. Parents can then contact
  local internet service providers, local law
  enforcement, or the CyberTipline.

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Cyber Bullying Laws

• According to a February 2008 USA Today report,
  Missouri is one of five states (Maryland, New
  York, Rhode Island and Vermont are the other
  four) that are considering cyber bullying laws.
• There were seven states, including Iowa,
  Minnesota, New Jersey and Oregon, that passed
  cyber bullying laws in 2007.

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For More Information, Visit these Web Sites

• Stop Bullying Now, www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/in
  dex.asp
• SAMHSA's National Mental Health Information
  Center (Bullying Is Not a Fact of Life),
  http//www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/al
  lpubs/SVP2D0052/
• National Education Association,
  http//www.nea.org/schoolsafety/bullying.html

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For More Information, Visit these Web Sites

• Missouri School Violence Hotline,
  www.schoolviolencehotline.com
• Missouri Center for Safe Schools,
  http//education.umkc.edu/safe-school/
• Netsmartz (from the National Center for Missing
  Exploited Children and Boys Girls Clubs of
  America), www.netsmartz.org
• i-SAFE, www.i-safe.org

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For More Information, Visit these Web Sites

• Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use,
  www.cyberbully.org
• Play it Cyber Safe, www.playitcybersafe.com
• Cyberbullying.us (Features News Stories about
  Cyber Bullying), http//www.cyberbullying.us/index
  .php
• Stop Cyberbullying, http//www.stopcyberbullying.o
  rg/index2.html

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Missouri Department of Social Services State
Technical Assistance Team

• Address
• PO Box 208Jefferson City, MO 65102-0208
• Telephone [phone](800) 487-1626(8 a.m.
  to 5 p.m. CST, Monday Friday)
• Email
•  dls.stat_at_dss.mo.gov