Comments on: How to Talk to Your Child About Cyberbullying Now

By: Help For Parents With Children Leaving School. | 7Wins.eu

Help For Parents With Children Leaving School. | 7Wins.eu — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:13:24 +0000

[...] How to Help Kids with ADHD Stay on Track in School (And Improve Their Academic Performance!) | Education Cannot Completely Solve Our Children’s Problems – The Seminal :: Independent Media and PoliticsHow to Talk to Your Child About Cyberbullying Now [...]

By: Carolina

Carolina — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:17:42 +0000

Thank you so much for all your work with girls and the difficulties they face. As a parent it is so helpful to know it’s not just a problem at our house, and I find your tips extremely useful.

I’m one of those parents who wants her daughter to have a phone at all times while out of the house. She was followed on her way home from school by a man once and had to call 911, that phone might have saved her life.

I think there could be stricter policies about leaving it in your locker and turning it off at school. I also think school boards should have a regulation regarding no cameras on phones at school, as is the case in many EU countries. This would limit the amount of nasty or akward pictures taken and sent around the school.

By: Marie

Marie — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:30:09 +0000

Love your article but what to do if it is your daughter who is being bullied? Contact the parents and school authrities….have done that and although it stops for a while, it slowly starts to happen again with different bullys.

About taking away the phone? I would have to take away the phone, computer and I-pod. Teens are communicating through social networks and instant messaging through their i-pod touch using wireless internet connections more than they are communicating with their phones.

What I have done to lessen the bullying and the amount of technolgy time: Blocked bully’s phone numbers, removed bully’s names from friend’s list on facebook, purchased I-Boss to control time allowed on i-pod touch and computer.

I really think we need more eductaion for both parents and students on cyber bullying. Some kids do not think it is harmful and some parents do not even understand what it is.

I am doing everything I can to prevent my bullied daughter from becoming the next “Phoebe Prince”.

By: Cyberbullying by Rachel Simmons | Camp Kippewa

Cyberbullying by Rachel Simmons | Camp Kippewa — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:20:01 +0000

[...] How to Talk to Your Daughter About Cyberbullying Now By Rachel Simmons | January 30th, 2010 | 19 comments [...]

By: Rachel Simmons

Rachel Simmons — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:34:18 +0000

Thanks so much – glad it helped.

By: K Lambert

K Lambert — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:10:51 +0000

Rachel,

I wanted to say thank you for this wonderful post. The information you provide is extremely useful. I have my own blog devoted to girls and have referenced your work several times, and in fact I referenced this post today in a post of my own! Thank you for all you do and keep up the good work.

Best wishes,

By: girls in the spotlight: Cyber-bullying « Act Your Age

girls in the spotlight: Cyber-bullying « Act Your Age — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:43:31 +0000

[...] in her PBS special, A Girl’s Life, has also written about cyber-bullying on her blog. In a recent post Rachel argues that cyber-bullying is new in that it is able to permeate the walls and boundaries [...]

By: Cómo hablarle a tu hija sobre el ciberbullying « Navegación Segura en Internet

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:32:46 +0000

[...] Rachel Simmons [...]

By: Nancy Schwartzman

Nancy Schwartzman — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:06:26 +0000

Thank you so much for this post, and for crafting clear steps that parents can take to look out for their kids – AND to hold their kids accountable. The accountability factor is almost always lacking in “prevention” or “awareness” measures to end violence/bullying. Without it, we can’t expect bystanders to become those who prevent violence.

I went to high school “like, a decade ago, right?” (according to my 18 y.o. intern), and freshman year my best friend was tortured. “Sleazy Slutano” was her nickname, because she was the incoming pretty girl who dated the cute guy. The girls pushed her down the stairs, and teased her in full view for our entertainment and fear. There were no cell phones- just psychological torture, hatred, lack of accountability, slut-shaming, and jockeying for power. My high school laughed when girls were raped passed out at parties, and called them sluts the morning after.”Mean Girls” a la Lindsey Lohan was a cakewalk.

These issues have very little to do w/technology. I commend you for addressing root causes, and wish that other initiatives would take note, and focus their energies on human behavior, RESPECT, friendship. Not cell phones.

By: Rachel Simmons

Rachel Simmons — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:09:58 +0000

Hi Renee, that’s an excellent question and there is a lot to say – I talk a lot about it in Odd Girl Out. The short answer is that girls acting in groups give each other permission to break powerful social rules against the open expression of female anger. Also, the intense pressure to fit in and belong typically silences the consciences — and most of these girls do have them — of a good number of participating kids. Finally, kids learn from other kids – they see how power is organized at school, which kids get privileges and which are disenfranchised. These unwritten rules — and the behaviors which reinforce them — become normalized to many young eyes…and then imitated.