Dealing with negative online behavior

Former Police Lieutenant, Joe Laramie, shares advice on dealing with negative online behavior.
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Dealing with negative online behavior

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Parents ask, how do I teach my kids to deal with the issue of being bullied online, to being harassed online. I have some basic tips that I like to offer. First, teach your child to not respond or, if they do respond, respond appropriately. Something like, "Please don't do that." Number two, make sure your child doesn't pass it on. "Did you hear what Billy said about Johnny? I can't believe this. Check this out." When you pass that on, you effectively become the bully. Number three, encouragement equals responsibility. "Send it, send it, send it," and your friend sends it. "I didn't send it, my friend did." In reality, you enabled them, you encouraged them, you are responsible for that action. The next thing is, no piling on. When you hit that Facebook "like," that's piling on. When you are in a group and everybody is cheering, that is piling on. That's responsible. Even though you may not have started it, you are building the pressure. The last thing is, we have to teach our kids to report it. they have to find somebody that they can tell. The idea that someone is picking on you repetitively, and you have to deal with it; it's not going to go away. Here's the problem, kids won't tell mom and dad because they are afraid mom and dad are going to fix it. Moms, dads, don't fix it. Let your child fix it. Give them the tools and the resources, so that they can deal with it themselves.

Former Police Lieutenant, Joe Laramie, shares advice on dealing with negative online behavior.

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Lt. Joe Laramie

Former Police Lieutenant

In 2012 Lt. Joe Laramie (retired) formed Laramie Consulting, where he provides strategies and solutions for law enforcement and schools to address policy and training on a variety of technology and child exploration issues. He has 30 years of experience in the area of child protection, was certified Police Juvenile Specialist and taught D.A.R.E. for 15 years. From 2010-2011 he worked for the Missouri Attorney General as Adminstrator of Computer Forensics Lab, responsible for addressing online crimes against children, cyber bullying and human trafficking. In 2010, after 31 years of service he retired as a Lieutenant from the Glendale Police Department, where he was detached form 2003-2010 as Commander of the Missouri Interent Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. During his time with MO ICAC he served the National ICAC Task Force Program as liaison to Interent Safety Organizaitons such as Netsmartz, iKeepSafe, and Web Wise Kids, and was a member of the Executive Committee. He is a nationally known speaker on the topic of online crimes against children, technology safety, and cyber bullying. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Bellevue University and is a 2004 graduate of the FBI National Academy.

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