Archive for the ‘Internet Safety’ Category

Before you gossip, ask these three questions

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

I recently read a story by the Associated Press, “There’s been a sharp drop in the percentage of America’s children being bullied or beaten up by their peers, according to a new national survey by experts who believe anti-bullying programs are having an impact.”

Did the study take cyber bullying into account?

Not if you ask the family of Alexis Pilkington, the Suffolk County 17-year old girl that recently took her life.  Cyber bullies left cruel and hurtful messages on her Facebook Memorial Page.

As the courts try to sort through first amendment rights and what constitutes defamation, there might be a better solution; one that has stood the test of time.

“Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?”

This simple yet elegant quote is from the nineteenth century guru Sai Baba. It helps us to understand the importance of mindful speech.  We’re uncomfortable with silence, so we fill the void with words.  But those words can be hurtful and painful whether in person or cyberspace.

If you would like to learn more about dealing with cyber bullying watch this video from Free Spirit Publishing.

Teaching our children to use the triple filter questioning method ‘is it kind, is it necessary, is it true’ might not stop them from being a victim, but it will stop them from being the bully.

If we all did that it could result in something really remarkable.

Have a great week!

Tina Nocera
Founder, Parental Wisdom®

Have We Really Evolved?

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

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Parents Say Online Bullies Caused Daughter’s Suicide

When your children are little, and when they fall and hurt themselves it’s easy to kiss the hurt and apply a band-aid.

But as they get older, the world can be cold and cruel, and situations that can’t be fixed with a band-aid and kiss.

The story in recent news is incredible and makes me wonder if we’ve really evolved at all. Parents posing as a teen age boy befriend a 14-year-old girl online. The girl’s parents took all the right precautions regarding Internet safety, but after ‘Josh’ befriended their daughter, he began to say cruel and hurtful things.

The intention of the parents pretending to be Josh was to see if the girl said anything bad about their daughter. That in itself is unreal. But the story gets worse because the teenage girl was on medication for ADD and depression, and hung herself because of the cruelty.

When it was realized that this was a hoax, the girl’s parents confronted the neighborhood family that created Josh and after losing their tempers did some damage to their property, and called the police.

The law cannot do anything to the family that created this hoax, while there is a family that no longer has their little girl. She had a name – it was Megan Miers.

Please remember her name because Megan’s parents are working on legislation to change the law so this doesn’t happen to someone else’s child. When they need support, I’m sure they can count on every parent that wants to protect their children.

My heart goes out to this family, along with my support.