Need Help Dealing With Bullying? Facebook’s Parent’s Portal Is Your New Friend!

These guides deal with online safety, what to do, how to post, share and navigate through Facebook and even connects parents to online safety partners! Ankhi Das: To help people have a positive experience on our services, we have policies that outline what people can and cannot share on Facebook, which includes policies that prohibit bullying and harassment, we invest in tools and abuse-fighting technology that help keep people safe, and we promote awareness of our policies and tools through education and outreach with local safety experts. As part of this effort, we recently released a new Safety Center, which includes a Bullying Prevention Hub and Parents Portal. While the Parents Portal includes guides for parents about how Facebook works and tips for talking with kids about staying safe online. The resources we have developed for parents through our Safety Center, Parents Portal and Bullying Prevention Hub will help parents, teens and educators develop a better understanding of online bullying and how to deal with it.
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It is what every parent worries about. It can happen anywhere – school, playground, park, or school bus and the worst part is you may not be there to save your child.

Bullying. India ranks third in the world when it comes to cyber bullying and this is a statistic that we need to change now, especially when more and more children are not going online. Bullying is an intentional, aggressive and repeated behaviour that could be physical, verbal, sexual or mental. So how do we protect our children from online predators?

Every day thousands of parents turn to Facebook to ask for advice from parents on matters ranging from how to tackle bullying to how much to feed their baby. Facebook has now become a portal that parents turn to when they wanted advice from people who have been through the same thing – like themselves. So why not change the conversation and make Facebook a place where parents can come to for not just advice from fellow parents but guides on how to tackle bullying.

That’s exactly what Facebook plans to do. 

Facebook has now launched the Parent’s Portal which will be a new section of the Facebook Safety Centre. This is in collaboration with parents, safety experts, teens and basically anyone who can help your child deal with the problem. The Parent’s Portal includes guides in 55 different languages that are even mobile friendly! These guides deal with online safety, what to do, how to post, share and navigate through Facebook and even connects parents to online safety partners!

Kidsstoppress reached out to Facebook’s Public Policy Director, India and South and Central Asia to tell us more about this new venture. Here are excerpts from that interview.

Q. How do we as a country make sure we address the fact that India ranks third in the world in cyber-bullying cases?

Ankhi Das: To help people have a positive experience on our services, we have policies that outline what people can and cannot share on Facebook, which includes policies that prohibit bullying and harassment, we invest in tools and abuse-fighting technology that help keep people safe, and we promote awareness of our policies and tools through education and outreach with local safety experts.

As part of this effort, we recently released a new Safety Center, which includes a Bullying Prevention Hub and Parent’s Portal. The Safety Center is designed to provide resources, top tips and step-by-step videos for parents, teens and educators on how to stay safe online. Within the Bullying Prevention Hub, there is specific advice for parents who’s child who is being bullied or is bullying others. While the Parent’s Portal includes guides for parents about how Facebook works and tips for talking with kids about staying safe online.

Q. How much of a role should parents play when it comes to teaching their child how to behave online?

Ankhi Das: As parents and educators, we have a responsibility to address our children’s online safety. Just like in real life, we must not only protect our children but also help them develop the skills and resilience that they need to protect themselves.

Q. How far do initiatives like ReThink and now Parent’s Portal on Facebook go towards cutting down on bullying? 

Ankhi Das: We recognise that bullying and harassment will likely always exist and we are committed to working with governments, civil society organisations, safety advocates and experts and our community on the issue. It’s a tough and never-ending challenge, which we will continue to work on.

Many parents and even teenagers don’t recognise what constitutes online bullying, since we are so used to physical bullying. But online bullying comes in many different forms and can include saying mean things, spreading rumours, posting inappropriate photos, bothering someone repeatedly, making threatening remarks, posting pictures of each other with body-shaming comments, or writing rude comments to each other. In this increasingly connected world, we simply cannot and should not pretend that online bullying doesn’t exist. The resources we have developed for parents through our Safety Center, Parent’s Portal and Bullying Prevention Hub will help parents, teens and educators develop a better understanding of online bullying and how to deal with it.

The hope is that as awareness of online bullying increases, teenagers in India will also come together to build support groups for each other. 

Q. Given this scary scenario of online bullying, what is the right age for kids to have an online presence?

Ankhi Das: My advice is engage in conversations early. Even before they are on social media, talk to them about technology as a whole. Ask your teenagers to teach you about the new apps and sites. It can help lay the groundwork for future conversations. At the end of the day, what you need to do is start the conversation with them. I don’t think it’s possible or even advisable to restrict children from using social media or the internet totally. The best option is to be their friend – while keeping a watchful eye on them – both online and offline.

Facebook’s Parent’s Portal Portal lives on the Facebook Safety Center and will be accessible at Facebook.com/safety/parents

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