From the Directors Desk

An informative monthly article about hot topics impacting American teens and their families. 

 

Bullying Teen !

Is there a bully in your home?

   

For most people the word bully conjures up memories of some physically stronger and bigger kid in school who used his size and “toughness” to coerce others into giving him something he wanted or doing something for him.

 

Today however the internet and its’ wide spread power, influence, and anonymity has redefined what and who is a bully.  Today the feared bully could well be:

   *  The small, diminutive, teenage girl who uses rumors, (true or not)

        Pictures and threats to obtain compliance and allegiance from

       another boy or girl, or to gain revenge from someone more “popular”.  

   *  Today’s bully may well be a withdrawn sullen teen with “low” self

       esteem that uses half truths on face book to spread fear or intimidate  

       others to gain a sense of power or draw attention to himself.        

   *  Today’s’ bully can ruin reputations even destroy lives and never face

       their victims while doing it.

 

There is one area of responsibility to control this “cyber” bullying crisis and that is what we as parents can do to monitor and control teen’s use of the internet.  There are professional organizations that now offer their services to monitor and evaluate our teen’s use of the internet.  Unfortunately, these companies services are not free, however, if their services help parents keep a closer eye on their teens internet activities it may ultimately be far less expensive than a civil law suit or criminal prosecution.