Educating Nannies about Cyber Bullying

Jill KeeleyContributed by Jill Keeley, 2015 INA Annual Conference Attendee and Working Nanny

Cyberbullying is the intentional and repeated mistreatment of others through the use of technology, such as computers, cell phones and other electronic devices.” ADL Definition

I found this workshop on cyber bullying to be a real eye opener. Beth educated us on the current statistics of cyber bullying. I was surprised to learn that though cyber bullying is vast and sad reality for youth today, it is not as common as some think. Beth explained to us how cyber bullying is really an extension of bullying in general and when a child is being bullied in school it often continues into the social media world making it impossible for children to get away from, even when in the safety of their home.

I enjoyed the interactive part of the workshop where we could work together as well as learn from each other. We spent time watching a video that portrayed a teenage boy who was experiencing cyber bullying. After the video we broke off into groups for the interactive part of our workshop where each group broke down segments of the video and discussed what we could have changed to help the boy with the situation. We discussed how we as caregivers can help support the child, the teachers and the parents in a bullying situation.

As a nanny to a boy about to enter the school system this workshop really spoke to me. Beth gave us useful information to help guide us to the right resources and how to reach out for help if need be. Thought the Anti-defamation League’s website, there are many resources to help parents and caregivers. http://www.adl.org

Some Statistics:

  • Of social media-using teens ages 12–17, 15% have been the target of online meanness; 88% have seen someone be mean or cruel on social network sites (Lenhart et.al, 2011)
  • 24%  of students ages 12 to 18 years old reported being cyber bullied in their lifetimes (Hinduja and Patchin 2013)
  • 1 in 10 teens reported that they have cyberbullied someone online or by text message. 16% have seen or heard of a friend who bullied others. (Cox Communications 2009)

Beth explained how it’s also important for us to keep up with the changing times. She informed us about apps that could be useful for those of us with charges that use the web: The Grown Folks Guide to Popular Apps. Overall I really enjoyed Beth Yohe’s workshop and would love to attend her a workshop of hers in the future.

Beth YoheAbout the speaker – Beth Yohe is the Director of Training for the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Education Division. Beth oversees the development of training and curricular materials for the ADL’s A WORLD OF DIFFERENCEÒ Institute, a leading provider of anti-bias education, bullying prevention and social justice training, delivered across the country and internationally. In her role, she has written training programs on a variety of topic areas including identity-based bullying prevention, addressing cyberbullying, religious respect, ally-building, analyzing curriculum through a social justice lens and facilitation skills. Beth is a board member for the International Bullying Prevention Association and is an advisory board member to MTV’s anti-bias campaign, Look Different. She has a Master of Science degree in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Colorado State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication from Texas A&M University.

 

A special thank you to the Anti-Defamation League for making Beth available to our International Nanny Association conference attendees for this valuable training.

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