If you have a child, then you need to have a plan on how to prevent bullying. Approximately 30% of youths in the United States are involved in some form of bullying, either as a bully or as the target of a bully.http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/faq/bullying.asp Children have been the targets of school bullying for many years. The internet has added a new way for a bully to torment their target. Cyber bullying has been on the rise in recent years due to the increase in the use of the internet. Nearly 35% of kids admit that they have been the target of online threats, either by e-mail, instant messaging, or social networks.http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying

Bullying has a life long impact on victims. Years down the road, teenage victims of bullying still had bouts of depression and low self esteem.http://www.charityguide.org/volunteer/fifteen/bullying.htm A bully thrives on causing pain and humiliation to another person. The bully needs a quick escape from their own problems, so they often intimidate, threaten, and call other people names to cover up their own issues. Many kids that are bullies have grown up in an environment where name calling, threats, and physical violence are part of their everyday home life.http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/problems/bullies.html# These kids need to be educated and taught that there are other ways to deal with stress and problems.

There are several things that could be warning signs of bullying. If your child exhibits any of these behaviors then you should have a serious talk with them to try and find out what is going on. Assure them that it is okay to be honest with you, and that you will work together to try and solve the problem.http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/bullying/SBN_Tip_7.pdf

Kids that are being bullied will often come home with their belongings being damaged. Books, clothes, papers, or other property may be ripped, torn, or missing. They may also have unexplained injuries. Scrapes, scratches, bruises, or cuts that the child tries to explain away, could be an indication of bullying.

Victims of bullying may suddenly dislike school and start pretending to be sick to keep from having to go. Grades may begin to drop, and the child may take longer alternate routes to school in order to avoid the bully. They may also suddenly want to quit an activity that they used to enjoy.

Bullying can cause the victim to feel scared, anxious, sad, depressed, moody, angry, or emotional to the point of crying. There confidence and self esteem may suddenly drop. Bullying can also cause the victim to lose their appetite, have trouble sleeping, and start having nightmares.http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/bullying/SBN_Tip_7.pdf

School is a common site where bullying takes place because kids spend so much time there. Kids may be bullied before school, after school, in the cafeteria, on the school bus, walking to or from school, or during other school activities. Other kids that witness the bullying may laugh or encourage the bully.

School bullies will do things to torment the victim at school. They may destroy the victims belongings, call them names. take their lunch or breakfast, take their money, or do things to keep them from being able to eat their lunch or breakfast. The encouragement from the other kids can cause the bullying to escalate to extreme levels quickly.

Parents and the school systems need to work together to educate kids about bullying. They need to be taught that bullying is not acceptable and should be reported and stopped immediately. Many kids don't intervene for fear of becoming the next victim of the bully. Victims don't report bullying because they don't want to be called a tattletale or because they are afraid that the bullying will get worse. Adult intervention can help the victim as well as the bully get the help that they need to stop these behaviors.http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/problems/bullies.html#

Cyber bullying has become a common occurrence in online chat rooms, on social networking sites, with cell phones, and through e-mail. Bullies are using the internet and cell phones to degrade and torment their victims outside of the school environment. Approximately 75% of kids admitted that they have visited a website that was bashing another child.http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying

Online bullies have even gone to the extreme of stealing the victims password, locking them out of it, and sending communications from the account posing as the victim. Cyber bullying has the same effect on the victim as regular bullying. Extreme situations have even resulted in kids attempting or committing suicide.http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/girls-teen-suicide-calls-attention-cyberbullying/story?id=9685026

Through the internet and mobile phones a cyber bully can torment the victim at any time during the day or night. Parents need to talk to their children about cyber bullying and encourage them to block the bully and ignore the actions that the bully takes in order to get the victim to react. If the victim stops reacting to the bully, there is a good chance that the bullying will stop.

Kids, parents, and school administration all need to know and understand what causes bullying, how to spot bullying, how to stop bullying, and how to prevent bullying before it starts. They also need to know what actions need to be taken when bullying is going on.

Kids need to be taught ways to deal with a bully. Boosting a child's self confidence and teaching them more confident body language can help deter a bully. Bullies often pick on victims that are alone a lot. Children that have two or three friends with them are less likely to be bullied.http://parenting.kaboose.com/behavior/borba-bullying.html

Teach your children that it is not acceptable to stand by and laugh or encourage a bully. If they feel safe, they should tell the bully that what is being done is not funny. If they do not feel safe, then they should tell an adult about what is going on. They can tell a teacher, school counselor, or their parent so that something can be done to stop the bullying.http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/HHS_PSA/pdfs/SBN_Tip_17.pdf<ref>

If you are a parent of a child that is being bullied, talk to your child. Try to come up with a solution that is acceptable to both of you. If this does not work and the bullying continues, then contact the school. If the child is being cyber bullied, print out any correspondence or remarks made about your child by the bully. Contact the site where the cyber bullying is taking place, or if you believe your child is in danger, contact the police. Bullying is not something that needs to be taken lightly no matter where it occurs.<ref>http://www.makeadifferenceforkids.org/cyberbullying.html