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Self Esteem and Young Girls

It is important that we work with young girls in order to build their self esteem. The media has set out impossible standards for young girls to try and attain. At the anti-girl bullying conference Alexis Jones was a keynote speaker. She is an activist helping young girls build positive self esteem and build meaningful relationships with other girls. Below is a link to her website:
I Am That Girl

Parents

One of the scariest things about cyber bullying is that our students are very tech savvy. One way to combat this is for parents to become educated on technology and social media that children are using. Parents should be watching what their children send as text messages, Facebook posts, or pictures that they put online. It is important parents are not in denial about what their children are doing on the internet.

Sexting Slang

This is how our children are communicating with each other:

Cu46 - see you for sex
Gnoc - get naked on cam
Ru18 - are you 18
Cd9 - parent/adult around
Yws  - you want sex
Iws - I want sex
Gnrn - get naked right now
Iit - is it tight
Gypo - get your pants off

Source: noslang.com

Sexting and Cyber Bullying

I am posting this entry from Las Vegas as I am attending a conference on girl bullying. A reoccurring theme has been that young girls are continually bullied and what even more alarming is that they don't report it. Cyber bullying is using email, texts, networking sites, or web pages to spread rumors or hurtful messages. Sexting is a very serious form of cyber bullying. As young as 11 kids are sending inappropriate pictures and texts. What happens when these texts are sent? The messages are shared with friends. Sexting can be an uncomfortable topic for parents and educators but it is one that needs to be addressed. It is our responsibility to educate our children on the effects of sexting.

Long Term Effects in Social Media

Young adults do not think about the long term effects of what they put online. Posting photos or videos will always be on the web. When these young adults eventually go to apply for a job it is possible the employer will search them on Google. It is important to think about what is being posted on the Internet.

Sources:   Dr. Chuck Williams

Hurt People Hurt People

Girl Bullying is very serious.  A girl is bullied every seven minutes.  Only around 15 percent of girls bullied tell someone.  With social media, bullying now can last long past the school day. The new generation now has ways to forever capture something.  Facebook, Twitter, digital cameras all allows something to be captured forever.  It also allows other people to witness an event that might be embarassing.  Young girls can be very cruel and malicious.  What do we do?  We need to work with girls to teach them confidence and a healthy sense of self.   This needs to be done, not only with the girls who are being bullied but with the bullies themselves.  It is also important to train teachers and parents on what to do when the find out about a girl being bullied.

Sources: Dr. Chuck Williams and Alexis Jones

Recommended Blogs

http://protectingstudentsfromcyberbullying.blogspot.com/

http://cyberbullying.us/weblog/

https://blogs.mcafee.com/tag/cyber-bullying

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/blogs/coping-cyberbullying-use-technology-terrify

"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends."

“Dumbledore, Harry Potter

As we continue to prepare our students for the 21st century, we need to remember this also includes some important rules to learn. One such rule is the importance of being safe online. It is our responsibility to make sure our students learn what it means to communicate responsibly. As children continue to access Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites at a younger age, we need to ensure they understand what acceptable use of this means.

Schools and families need to work together and share the responsibility of teaching our students the correct protocol for using the internet. We need to be strong and positive examples. This means we need to remind our students and show our students what it means to be a respectful and responsible person. At the same time we also need to educate our children in what to do if they do come across something they know is not right. 

If our students see or know of cyber bullying they need to know to come forward and who to report it to. As educators and families we need to make sure our children are equipped with the correct tools to be able to face cyber bullying head on.