Recently I attended a talk for students on cyber-bullying. What struck me most about the presentation was that the strategies to deal with online bullying were remarkably similar, if not the same, to dealing with face-to-face bullying: Don't share personal information with people you don't know and trust; people aren't always truthful about who they are; if you feel uncomfortable, tell a parent or someone you trust, etc. These are the top apps to help educate your kids about bullying behavior and building resilience. Bully proofing is a multifaceted challenge that involves not only dealing with bullying behavior, but also teaching kids to love and accept themselves and others. Just as important is teaching bullies to love and accept themselves along with providing social skills for more positive interactions with others.
How does your family deal with bullies? Does your children's school have an anti-bullying policy? What tools (programs, websites, organizations or apps) have you found to be useful in bully proofing your kids?
STORIES
The Adventures of Johnny Beeware is a fully animated children's (4-9) eBook series on the many challenges of growing up such as bullying and cyber-bullying, obesity and nutrition, dealing with strangers and staying safe, and much more! In this first adventure, Johnny Beeware, a young bee, and his friends Rubee and Kirbee, encounter bullying in the hive and are determined to show BullyBee the error of his ways.
FREE
Bullying
Book Overview: A girl named Maya needs help! When she went to school today, her classmates teased and bullied her about her new glasses. Maya turns to Greg and the Neon Tiki Tribe to learn what she can do to prevent bullying. Join Mowah and Tia as they help Maya!
$1.99
Beautiful You the App
“Beautiful You,” by award winning author Pamela Chambers and illustrated by Muriel Stewart is a captivating app that will take your child on a journey of self discovery to help uncover all the beautiful things that makes your child unique and special. The app will also help to reduce bullying. The unique thing about this app is that it is read in diverse voices and languages.
$1.99
Middle School Confidential 1:
Be Confident in Who You Are
Middle school can be a serious pain with bullies putting you down, blowups threatening friendships, and real doubts about how you measure up. Good thing you don’t have to go it alone! Meet Mateo, Michelle and their friends—six teens trying to figure out what middle school’s all about. Follow their adventures and watch as they learn how to get along in middle school.
$2.99
The Mighty League Vol 1 — The Terrible Taunting — A Blackfish Children's Book
The adorkable JMan and his plucky hedgehog sidekick, Mr. Redge are the unstoppable, secret superhero team who save a classmate from the poking pranks of Dr. Evil Touch! Join this quirky duo on their quest to stop a bully, make the school playground a peaceful place, and more importantly, make a new friend who likes crime fighting, capes and karate, too. Discover JMan’s hidden notebook on each page about what it’s like to be an Aspie. FOR KIDS AGES 5-11
$3.99
GAMES
Awesome Upstander!
Don’t just stand there, be an UPSTANDER! The bully is at it again. Use the power of your friends to STOP the bully before it's too late! Race through cafeterias and bathrooms to rescue a target from the bully. Collect bananas, air fresheners, and rolls of toilet paper to up your score, but hurry! Time is ticking, and you have to find and collect enough friends to stand up to the bully together.
FREE
TOOLS FOR KIDS
Take a Stand Together - for kids in Australia
Take a Stand Together provides students with tips and advice which they can apply to different bullying situations. Young kids love to use their parents' phones – install it on your phone and let them investigate at their own pace. Providing your child with tools to respond to different bullying situations helps build their capacity to deal with bullying at school and online.
FREE
TOOLS FOR PARENTS
My Mobile Watchdog Parent Dashboard
My Mobile Watchdog lets you monitor your child's cell phone use, including call logs, texting, photos (MMS), web history, web filtering, time restrictions, sync contacts and block applications. Receive real time alerts when a stranger contacts your child. Must be installed on your child's phone. Requires an account with a 7 day free trial. For more information about the My Mobile Watchdog app, visit www.mymobilewatchdog.com.
FREE (in-app purchases)
Norton Family — Parental control and monitoring
Norton Family is a helpful companion app for parents who already have a Norton Family account. Norton Family companion app is a parental controls solution that allows you to keep an eye on your kids’ online activities from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. So even if you don’t have access to your computer, you can still see what your kids are doing online, view all the websites they visit and receive alerts when they attempt to access something they shouldn’t.
FREE
TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS
Safe School Ambassadors
Safe School Ambassadors action log
Fully FREE
Report Bullying with Sprigeo
Everyone has the right to feel safe at school. Kids and teens use Sprigeo to report bullying and school safety incidents. Someone at your school has been bullied and needs you to step up and help. Reports can be sent anonymously and go directly to your school principal. The app is easy to use with only three screens before the submit button. Most of the questions have a list of options to choose from, so you don't need to type too much information. You can also send in a report online at www.Sprigeo.com.
FREE
WEBSITES
Bully Proof USA
http://bullyproofusa.com
Bully Proof is a catalyst for a revolution of respect in American schools, committed to energizing a student movement that ends the bullying epidemic by raising the value of respect in the lives of young people. We are an organization that is committed to battling bullying in every elementary, middle and high school in America. Our mission is simple: "Securing America's future by bully proofing our schools one student at a time through education and awareness."
Mental Health America - Bullying: What to do about it
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/bullying
Bullying is aggressive behavior. A child is targeted by one or more youths with repeated negative actions over a period of time. These are intentional attempts to cause discomfort or injury and can include name-calling, making faces, obscene gesturing, malicious teasing, threats, rumors, physical hitting, kicking, pushing, and choking. More subtle is simply excluding a child from the group. Generally, bullying occurs when there’s an imbalance of power favoring the bully. Victims usually feel they don’t have the strength to defend themselves. Make no mistake, bullying is a form of violence that shouldn’t be tolerated.
Connect For Respect - Bullying
http://www.pta.org/programs/content.cfm?ItemNumber=3003&navItemNumber=3984
Connect for Respect is National PTA's initiative to encourage PTAs across the country to lead conversations in their school communities about bullying, how it is affecting their communities, and to develop solutions that they can implement collaboratively together.
Safe Cyberspace Surfing
http://kidshealth.org/kid/watch/house/internet_safety.html#cat115
Learn about llamas, read up on your favorite skateboard star, or study a stegosaurus. You can do all these things online and then email or text message your best friend about it. But when you're moving through cyberspace, you need to stay safe.
These apps are also available on Android, along with more bully proofing apps. Please support Smart Apps For Android by clicking on the icons below:
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As a final note, Cas would like to share this video with you: "Simon finally gets around to pushing his Golden Buzzer for a youthful musical duo. Bars & Melody combine cuteness and originality, charming our audience with their skills."
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