What can I do now to stop textbullying?
What if I’m still getting text bullied?
Who can I talk to about text bullying?
Parents/carers and teachers
Children and young people bullying by mobile phone or PC is a real and growing problem. In 2005 NCH, the children’s charity, found that one in five 11 to 19 year olds had been bullied or threatened this way.
If you’re a teacher:
Putting u in the picture – new schools resource pack
This pack is designed to help teachers, young people and parents to understand and prevent text bullying. Please use it freely, with classes as part of citizenship or PHSE, or by making it available to individuals who may benefit.
Download: Top 10 tips poster
Download: Latest research summary and quiz
The DfES wants schools to develop policies and good practice for ‘cyberbullying’. Its superhighway safety schools’ information pack covers different kinds of remote bullying and strategies for tackling it, at http://safety.ngfl.gov.uk/schools/print.php3?SC=2
The Anti-Bullying Alliance of 60 organisations, including NCH, aims to develop national and regional anti-bullying programmes, with regional co-ordinators supporting schools. Individual schools should find a model that works locally for them, says the ABA. Its website has downloadable scripts and teachers’ notes for secondary schools.
The ‘Don’t suffer in silence’ website has a short anti-bullying video featuring stars like Rio Ferdinand and the Sugababes, a downloadable anti-bullying charter and advice for teachers.
Kidscape has a model anti-bullying policy which tells all young people at your school how to report bullying – you can get a copy by sending a large SAE to the charity.
If you’re a parent/carer:
Make sure you know who to contact if your child is a victim of text bullying. (This site will help you.) Tell your child they can always talk to you about bullying, and that you won’t overreact or take their phone or PC away.
Try to understand how young people use PCs and mobiles – that includes texting, picture messaging, online gaming and chat, instant messaging and blogging. There’s guidance for parents/carers at www.cyberbullying.ca and mobile network provider O2 has various online leaflets, including one on mobile phone bullying, at http://www.02.com/cr/network_safety.asp
Make sure children use chatrooms and instant messaging safely – Check they only use properly moderated chatrooms and their chat friends can’t see important personal information. Tell them never to give out contact details that a bully could use against them. Get them to visit Stoptextbully.com and others like www.wiredsafety.org and www.chatdanger.com
Check out the law on bullying, especially text and online bullying. The Anti-Bullying Alliance and the Children’s Legal Centre have a guide for parents to download at www.ncb.org.uk/resources/abaclcguidetolaw.pdf
The ABA website also has lots of contacts and resources for parents, including local anti-bullying projects. In Scotland, www.antibullying.net is a useful resource.
The Bullying Online site suggests how you could approach your child’s school about bullying. Kidscape also has useful advice and downloadable tools including sample letters to send to schools and report sheets for bullying incidents and school meetings.
© NCH 2005 Content cannot be copied, republished, posted, broadcast or reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of NCH.