Bullying is aggressive behavior that involves an imbalance of power or strength. Often, bullying is repeated over time.
Conflict involves antagonism among two or more people. Whereas any two people can have a conflict (or a disagreement or a fight), bullying only occurs where there is a power imbalance—where one child has a hard time defending himself or herself. Why is the difference between bullying and conflict important? Conflict resolution or mediation strategies are sometimes misused to solve bullying problems. These strategies can send the message that both children are “partly right and partly wrong,” or that, “We need to work out the conflict between you.” These messages are not appropriate messages in cases of bullying (or in any situation where someone is being victimized). The appropriate message to the child who is bullied should be, “Bullying is wrong and no one deserves to be bullied. We are going to do everything we can to stop it.”
Source: U.S Department of Health and Human Services
The right to freedom of speech we have been given by the Constitution is supposed to be based on the right to talk freely about government and petition it without fear of being silenced or punished. The freedom was not meant to include the public insults and harassment that are done with the purpose of destroying someone’s life. Unfortunately, right now, Cyberbullying is a big loophole; it needs to be classified as slander and libel.
The problem is that the Internet is a safe haven for bullies because of the anonymity. There is not a more cowardly way to bully someone then from behind a curtain. But parents are the key. Parents need to get involved in helping solve the cyberbullying problem. If parents cared enough about their child being the bully or passing along the material as much as they care when their child is a victim, it would be a huge step forward. But then, of course, how do you know if your child is involved in cyberbullying? You need to monitor their Internet activity. Monitoring software like our PC Pandora records everything that happens on the PC. If your child is a victim, you will know; if they are a bully, you will know. Whatever the case may be with your child (victim or bully), you need to intervene. Check us out at http://www.pcpandora.com to see how you can be a part of the solution instead of a passive part of the problem.