BE A BUDDY NOT A BULLY
Parents please pay attention to what your children are doing on social media. During the pandemic we have seen an increase in cyberbullying; tensions are high, depression, anger and thoughts of suicide.
Name calling such as trash, tramp, worthless no one likes you you are adopted because your parents didn’t want you. Just kill yourself. These are just a few of the hurtful words and phrases children have been dealing with.
One of my classmates made numerous attempts to bully my friend and I when we were in high school she called us trash and tramp. It never got any further than that because we knew that was not who we were. Her whole mission was because of jealously on her part. We stood up for ourselves (not in a violent way) and did not let those negative words consume us.
In this digital age many children become victims to online predators every day. Some predators are bullies and others are more cynical and their objective is to prey on the young children. There are those who’s intention is to hurt and say mean things, others try to control and of course some have sexual deviance.
Because of the stay at home/quarantine and not being able to see their friends or go out as they would usually do and feeling that they are being cooped up can be depressing. Parents often end up allowing their children to spend as much time on social media or playing games on their electronic device and not supervising often times land your child in big trouble
Parents please keep an honest open relationship. Good communication is key.
Parents make sure you know who/what/why your child is in communication with. If you have to do some snooping it’s better to have your child angry with you for a short while than having them missing for a lifetime.
TikTok using any social network can be risky but be aware for instance when using TikTok your account is public by default, meaning anyone can see your videos, send you direct messages and use your location information. If your child is standing outside a makes a video of your home its easy for a predator to find the house. I’m not telling you not to use this site and not saying it is a bad thing what I’m saying is monitor what sites your kids are using.