Cyberbullying: what you can do about it.

Cyberbullying puts great pressure on your child. It makes sense that you want to stop it quickly. But where do you start? How do you stop cyberbullying? And what steps should you take?

Get help

Do not be afraid to ask for help. Cyberbullying is very serious and hard to solve. You can ask the following organizations for help:

• Meldknop
• Helpwanted
• GGD
• Police (for threats, discrimination, hacking, stalking, and other crimes)

Collect evidence of the cyberbullying

No matter how hard this is, to tackle cyberbullying it is necessary to save and keep bad messages and photos. This way you get an overview of the bullying and the times it happens. This information helps when talking to school.

How do you collect evidence? At least do this:

• Write down when the bullying happens: the day, time, and by whom.
• Make screenshots of unwanted messages, photos, videos, and fake online profiles.
• Save WhatsApp chats and unwanted emails.
• Save other digital data, such as username, email address, and IP address.
• Do not reply to messages, even if it is hard.
• Use the report button if possible so the platform knows about the bad messages. Ask others to do this too.
• Write down what your child has already done to stop the bullying and what effect it had.

It can help your child to secure their social media accounts. Block bullies and protect the accounts.

Talk to school

Talk to school. It is helpful if you have a clear overview of what happened, but this is not necessary. You can also talk to school at the first signs. You can go with your child to the contact person for bullying or the trusted person at school.

Discuss what the school can do and make clear agreements. Make sure to agree on the school’s actions, who your child can safely contact, and how you keep in touch. Also plan a follow-up meeting.