1. Be Aware: Bullying & Cyberbullying
Cristal Coronado | Arkansas State University | November 2017

2. What is Bullying/Cyberbullying?
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time.
Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets.

3. Types of Bullying:
Verbal bullying is saying or writing mean things. Verbal bullying includes:
Teasing
Name-calling
Inappropriate sexual comments
Taunting
Threatening to cause harm
Social bullying, sometimes referred to as relational bullying, involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Social bullying includes:
Leaving someone out on purpose
Telling other children not to be friends with someone
Spreading rumors about someone
Embarrassing someone in public

4. Types of Bullying (cont’d.)
Physical bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions. Physical bullying includes:
Hitting/kicking/pinching
Spitting
Tripping/pushing
Taking or breaking someone’s things
Making mean or rude hand gestures
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

5. Where Does Bullying Occur?
Bullying can occur during or after school hours. While most reported bullying happens in the school building, a significant percentage also happens in places like on the playground or the bus. It can also happen travelling to or from school, in the youth’s neighborhood, or on the Internet.

6. Forms of Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behavior.

8. Where Does Cyberbullying Occur?
Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, Text, and apps, or online in social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content.

9. Know the Signs of Bullying:
Unexplainable injuries
Lost or destroyed clothing, books, electronics, or jewelry
Frequent headaches or stomach aches, feeling sick or faking illness
Changes in eating habits, like suddenly skipping meals or binge eating. Kids may come home from school hungry because they did not eat lunch.
Difficulty sleeping or frequent nightmares
Declining grades, loss of interest in schoolwork, or not wanting to go to school
Sudden loss of friends or avoidance of social situations
Feelings of helplessness or decreased self esteem
Self-destructive behaviors such as running away from home, harming themselves, or talking about suicide
Talk to your child/children about bullying and know the signs, keep in mind not all children who are bullied will show signs.

10. Know the Signs of YOUR Child Being the Bully
Get into physical or verbal fights
Have friends who bully others
Are increasingly aggressive
Get sent to the principal’s office or to detention frequently
Have unexplained extra money or new belongings
Blame others for their problems
Don’t accept responsibility for their actions
Are competitive and worry about their reputation or popularity

11. What can you do as a parent if your child is a bully?
Take it seriously. Don't treat bullying as a passing phase. Even if you're not worried about long-lasting effects on your child, another child is being hurt.
Talk to your child to find out why he or she is bullying. Often, children bully when they feel sad, angry, lonely, or insecure and many times major changes at home or school may bring on these feelings.
Help build empathy for others and talk to your child about how it feels to be bullied.
Ask a teacher or a school counselor if your child is facing any problems at school, such as if your child is struggling with a particular subject or has difficulty making friends. Ask them for advice on how you and your child can work through the problem.
Ask yourself if someone at home is bullying your child. Often, kids who bully are bullied themselves by a parent, family member, or another adult.

12. What can parents, staff, teachers do about bullying?
Give children positive feedback when they behave well to help their build self-esteem. Help give them the self-confidence to stand up for what they believe in.
Ask your children about their day and listen to them talk about school, social events, their classmates, and any problems they have.
Take bullying seriously. Many kids are embarrassed to say they have been bullied. You may only have one chance to step in and help.
If you see any bullying, stop it right away, even if your child is the one doing the bullying.
Encourage your child to help others who need it.
Don't bully your children or bully others in front of them. Many times kids who are bullied at home react by bullying other kids. If your children see you hit, ridicule, or gossip about someone else, they are also more likely to do so themselves.
Support bully prevention programs in your child's school. If your school doesn't have one, consider starting one with other parents, teachers, and concerned adults.

13. Know the Signs of Cyberbullying
What to do if your child
is being cyberbullied
Know the Signs of Cyberbullying
Notice
Talk
Document
Report
Support
Noticeable increases or decreases in device use, including texting.
A child exhibits emotional responses (laughter, anger, upset) to what is happening on their device.
A child hides their screen or device when others are near, and avoids discussion about what they are doing on their device.
Social media accounts are shut down or new ones appear.
A child starts to avoid social situations, even those that were enjoyed in the past.
A child becomes withdrawn or depressed, or loses interest in people and activities.

14. What to do if YOUR Child is Being Bullied (cont’d.)
NOTICE
TALK
Recognize if there has been a change in mood or behavior and explore what the cause might be. Try to determine if these changes happen around a child’s use of their digital devices.
Ask questions to learn what is happening, how it started, and who is involved.

15. What to do if YOUR Child is Being Bullied (cont’d.)
DOCUMENT
REPORT
Keep a record of what is happening and where. Take screenshots of harmful posts or content if possible. Most laws and policies note that bullying is a repeated behavior, so records help to document it.
Most social media platforms and schools have clear policies and reporting processes. If a classmate is cyberbullying, report it the school. You can also contact app or social media platforms to report offensive content and have it removed. If a child has received physical threats, or if a potential crime or illegal behavior is occurring, report it to the police

16. What to do if YOUR Child is Being Bullied (cont’d.)
SUPPORT
Peers, mentors, and trusted adults can sometimes intervene publicly to positively influence a situation where negative or hurtful content posts about a child. Public Intervention can include posting positive comments about the person targeted with bullying to try to shift the conversation in a positive direction..
It can also help to reach out to the child who is bullying and the target of the bullying to express your concern. If possible, try to determine if more professional support is needed for those involved, such as speaking with a guidance counselor or mental health professional.

17. Ways to Prevent Cyberbullying
Screening for harmful content on websites and apps varies widely.
Content posted can be incorrect, harmful, or hurtful (e.g., why are you so dumb?).
Can be used to share harmful or adult content.
Privacy controls over who can view or access posted material vary across apps, and many users are not aware of how to use them effectively.
Apps that allow for real-time user videos “live streaming” can been used to show bullying, violence, suicide, and harmful acts as they are happening.
Some apps that include location information can be used to get personal information, such as someone’s age, current location, or where someone lives.
Apps that support telephone calls do not show up on a call log, so parents may not know who their children are talking to.

18. GAMING: Ways to Prevent Cyberbullying
Play the game or observe when the gaming happens to understand how it works and what a child is exposed to in the game.
Check in periodically with your child about who is online, playing the game with them.
Teach your children about safe online behavior, including not clicking on links from strangers, not sharing personal information, not participating in bullying behavior of other players, and what to do if they observe or experience bullying.
Establish rules about how much time a child can spend playing video games.

19. Together we can end bullying

20. References http://www.dictionary.com/browse/cyberbullying?s=t