Bullying and Online Safety
Children rarely tell adults if they are being bullied or bullying others. The following resources help educators, parents, and other professionals recognize the warning signs of bullying and discuss how to talk with the child, school officials, and parents about bullying. In addition, this toolkit provides resources for youth about healthy relationships and listening to help prevent bullying behaviors before they happen.
Common signs of bullying include:
- school refusal
- frequent stomachaches, headaches and other physical complaints
- sleep disturbance (including nightmares and difficulty falling asleep)
- changes in eating habits
- avoiding peer interactions after school and on weekends
- talking about being alone at school
- afraid of riding the bus
- sudden change in school performance
Electronic Resources
Websites
InternetMatters.org: A website with age-specific advice for keeping kids safe online, preventing cyberbullying, how to set up devices with parental controls, and more.
Amaze.org: Check out Amaze's information for youth and parents on being safe on the internet.
Fact sheets and Lesson Plans
Cyberbullying - An overview for parents, teachers, and students + resource guide: A fact sheet on what cyberbullying can look like and how to help a child through it.
Exploring the Internet Safely in and out of the Classroom: An article for teachers on how to set up a structure for students to explore the internet safely.
Being Smart, Staying Safe Online - A Lesson Plan from Rights, Respect, Responsibility K-12 Curriculum: Lesson plan with many engaging activities around social media and general internet safety.
Videos
This brief video has top tips for young people on how to browse the web safely!