Welcome back to this week’s segment of After School Tea Time! Get your tea cups ready because we have more to spill this week! Keep your questions coming because you could be helping someone who has similar questions!

Question from New Haven County- There was a situation in our program where a child was being bullied on social media by other children in the program. We found out because another child reported it to our staff. This is the first time we have had to deal with an issue that involves social media, and we are not sure how to handle it. What would be the best way to handle this?

Hey New Haven, thank you for asking this question. Situations involving social media can be complicated. However, it is important to know what to do since social media is very popular and is being used by children more frequently. I would first start by gathering any evidence about the situation and keeping it on file. Since you mentioned that another student reported the situation, I would ask if they had any evidence such as screenshots from the account where the bullying was happening. Depending on the severity of the comments, I would reach out to the parents/guardians and let them know what is going on. If the online bullying has been going on for a while it is better to let their parents/guardians know about the situation instead of trying to resolve it within the program. This would also be a good opportunity to have lessons on online safety and how to use social media appropriately. Here is an article with tips for teachers on how to identify cyberbullying and what they can do to prevent and address it when it happens. We hope this is helpful!

We’ll see you next week for another segment of After School Tea Time! Don’t forget to submit your anonymous questions here.