The sad case of 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick (see link at the bottom of the page) prompts my question: Should parents be held responsible for minor children involved in cyberbullying? Perhaps this case hits a little closer to home because I have two daughters .... and one of them is named .... you guessed it ... Rebekah.
Perhaps you'll say, "My child wouldn't do such a thing." or "My children know better." But, what if your child becomes the target of some other child through no fault of their own, or even BECAUSE they refuse to take part in a group bullying?
Most responsible social networking sites do not allow children under the age of 13 to have accounts. This is true for Facebook and the other accounts mentioned in the article below. Some sites even require parent permission for younger teens. But the truth is that children routinely lie about their age to create these accounts. That's where parenting comes in to play. How do children access these sites? Are they using the family computer? Do they have a computer in their room? Do they have a smartphone? So what's a parent to do?
First of all, we should enforce the age limits for our children. They are there for a reason. What do we teach our kids if we routinely ignore rules and allow them to lie about their age? We should not allow them to have social networking accounts before the proper age (even if EVERYBODY ELSE has one). Let's not jump off that bridge with them.
Secondly, we should periodically monitor the internet devices that our students have access to. I've had many conversations with parents who give many different reasons why their young children NEED smartphones and laptops in their rooms. There are different opinions on that. But, if they have one, do you monitor the APPS that they use? Do you have internet filtering on your WiFi network at home? Do you check the internet history from time to time? Did you know that they can use their Wii or XBox to access the internet if you have a WiFi network in your home? You should require that they "friend" you. I know that there are ways around that, but every little bit helps. I know a number of parents who have joined Facebook, Twitter, and others just so they can monitor their children from time to time. My wife has not been shy about telling our children that they should un-friend some people due to the language and content of the posts that show up on our children's pages.
Thirdly, we should have conversations about what is allowed and not allowed online. Do they know what type of information is safe to share online? Would you put a sign in the front yard indicating that you would be gone for a week? Yet we often use Facebook to tell all our friends (and sometimes the whole world if our privacy settings aren't right) that we are headed for the beach!
And finally, parents should educate themselves. Many are surprised to learn that 12-year-olds aren't supposed to have Facebook. How would you know? Does anybody actually read those terms of service? There are a lot of good things available on the internet. Use the internet to help educate yourself on how to prevent the bad!
Link to New York Times article on the bullying-induced suicide of Rebecca Sedwick:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/us/felony-charges-for-2-girls-in-suicide-of-bullied-12-year-old-rebecca-sedwick.html
No comments:
Post a Comment