Bullying today takes many forms.

There have always been Bullys, but not like there are today.  The big difference in the modern world is the amount of emotional and reputational damage that can be inflicted in a matter of seconds while the bully is some what protected by the veil of the electronic world.

There is an unfortunate majority of parents today that are handing their children devices with little idea of the kind of communications that are taking place.  Children so want to fit in in the electronic world, but at their young ages really don’t have much to say in the way of substantative content, so it often results in either streams of not-so-much, an over dissemination of personal information, or sometimes manifests in the unhealthy tearing down of another person.  The children have lots of examples that glorify the improper behavior in both the electronic media world as well as the overly dramatic world of reality TV and other shows that portray the dishonest, mean, or otherwise bad girl/guy as the attractive one in the story.

The school environments of today are another source of one-upsmanship, competition at any cost, and other unhealthy behaviors.  The school administration are often prevented by policy from dealing with behaviors until they change from a behavior to an action, which is unfortunately often too late.

Quiktip.info allows the students a way to share anonymous information with the administration about bullying, threats, alcohol, drugs, or other behaviors hopefully before they turn into an event. We cannot and should not live in an environment of fear, paranoia, or suspicion, but the modern world is what it is, and we would be naive to think it couldn’t happen here.

Ways to create the best and safest environment for the kids are:

1.  In the words of Paul Simon….teach your children well.  There are children that aren’t getting good examples or guidance at home.  If no one ever says do this, not that, where are they supposed to learn it?  Good manners, morals, and behaviors are seldom shown on TV shows.

2. Provide an active and open channel of communication.  The current generation coming through the K-12 school system doesn’t communicate the way we did “back-in-the-day”.

3.  The current generation is comfortable with sharing to the point that it makes my generation uncomfortable, and they have little understanding of the potential irreversible and long term impact of the things they are posting.  Be sure that you monitor the various apps, channels, and feeds on their electronic devices.  Your awareness and guidance as to what is appropriate is extremely important.