Parents and caregivers are a child’s first and best teacher. Your child is listening and remembering your advice, even when it seems like he/she is not paying attention. In fact, spending 15 minutes a day listening and talking with your child can help build the foundation for a strong relationship and provide reassurance that he/she can come to you with a problem.
Bullying is a frustrating problem not only in school but also out of school. We teachers struggle to control what occurs in school, how can we help with what occurs outside of school?
I can remember being asked this question during my interview for my current positions, “What would you do as a teacher for a student who has little parent support?” My response, “Try to be the parent.” I further explained what I meant by discussing my role as a teacher and how I need to strive to get the best from every student and do my best for every student. This may mean I need to be the “mom” so to speak for some students. I may need to remind them to do their homework constantly or try and show them what life is all about. I needed to help prepare them for their future, whatever that may be. This means I need to get to know my students and create rapport—something that is not always easy when dealing with mostly 16 or 17 year olds.
I feel that cyber bullying is quite similar. If a parent is not involved, the teacher needs to be. Also, sometimes a parent just may not have the training or knowledge as to how dangerous the internet may be. After all, our students and children are digital natives, we however are not. This means we need help and we need to do our best to help students understand the dangers of the internet and also what is right and wrong. Teaching morals without technology is hard enough, add in technology and the task seems almost impossible.
As I thought about what I knew about cyber bullying and social media, I realized I did not know much. I have never experienced it before. While searching for some information, I came across this great app which can help teachers and parents. It provides a starting point and knowledge we don’t have. As a soon to be parent, I feel that this knowledge and resource will become quite useful. This website provides information about the app and how to access it. The app provides daily discussion prompts for parents and helps parents communicate with their children. It also has a reminder button, because let’s face it, life can be crazy. I think this could be a wonderful tool for parents and teachers.
The app is called: KNOW BULLYING
Donato, Ingrid. (2014, August 18). Put the Power to Prevent Bullying in Your Hand. Retrieved from http://www.stopbullying.gov/blog/2014/08/18/put-power-prevent-bullying-your-hand.
