With online social media so widely available to kids today, bullying doesn’t necessarily stop after school, and often takes place round-the-clock. The repercussions can be missed days of school, depression and even suicide.
Fortunately, kids are getting more help these days as bullying prevention efforts are growing nationwide.
This year, Cartoon Network’s Speak Up Week (Sept. 29 – Oct. 3) kicks off National Bullying Prevention Month in October and is a great time to review ways that adults and kids can stand up to bullying:
• Cyberbullying: Don’t contribute to the problem by sharing, saving, forwarding or reposting information. If you’re on the receiving end, resist the urge to get back at the person or fix the issue online — both can make the problem worse. Get offline and deal with it in real life. Parents can help prevent cyberbullying by monitoring kids’ use of computers, mobile phones and tablets.
• Don’t stand by: Research has found that when bullying occurs and a bystander intervenes by speaking up, more than half of bullying situations stop within just 10 seconds.■
