How do you deal with cyber bullying in children?

Nowadays almost everyone has social media. From adults, teenagers, even children, they are already proficient in using it. Is your child an active social media user? If so, you should continue to pay attention and monitor your little one in using their social media accounts. The reason is, currently many are misusing social media. It is not uncommon for children and teenagers to become targets of cyber bullying. Yes, cyber bullying can be experienced by your little one. As a parent, you must be very anxious and do not accept it if your child experiences this. However, there are some wise ways to deal with and respond to cyber bullying in children.

How should parents behave when there is cyber bullying to children?

Most children and teens who experience cyber bullying don't fully understand what's going on. Maybe when they feel oppressed, they will feel scared or even angry. So that, you need your role as a parent to be with him. This is what parents should do when cyber bullying in children occurs.

1. Don't respond to the offender

Give your child the understanding that the main thing to do when violence on social media happens to him is not to respond or respond to the perpetrator. Let her know that any negative comments or slurs directed at her should be ignored.

Although it is very difficult to hold back from fighting back, this will actually prevent things from getting worse. Usually people who do cyber bullying tend to be more happy if the "bait" is accepted by the victim.

2. Build back your little one's confidence

It is natural for your child and teenager to be very scared, anxious, angry, and sad at the same time. Of course as a parent, your role is to calm him down and restore his confidence back is very important.

Explain that this could happen to anyone, not just him. There are many people who are irresponsible and use social media to bully others. If necessary, you can take your little one to a psychologist to monitor their mental condition.

It is important not to corner or blame your child, for example by saying something like, “What are you doing, to the point that he bully you like this? ". Whatever the reason, cyber bullying on children cannot be justified.

3. Collect evidence, then report it

After successfully restraining yourself, ask your child what forms of social media violence he experiences. Whether it's inappropriate comments, personal photos, and so on. Collect all these things to be used as evidence.

Many children actually erase all the evidence out of fear. So calm himself down and provide an explanation that this can be used as evidence. If you already have sufficient evidence, then it's best to report it to the school or any other person in authority in your situation, so that the perpetrator will not abuse another child.

What should parents do so that cyber bullying in children does not occur?

The most important thing is to monitor all of your little one's activities on social media. Find out what social media accounts he has to his friends in the media. Let him know if it's best not to make friends with people he doesn't know. It's also important to know everything posts which he uploaded on his personal account.

You also need to be sensitive to your teens, know the signs when your little one is experiencing cyber bullying, so you can prevent other bad things from happening.