Dear Richard
Shortly before the end of the semester, my son’s elementary school principal called and told me that he was involved in an online bullying campaign against another kid in his class. We were both mortified and surprised because he always seemed like a very happy and friendly boy.
The school has a plan to address this, which includes an apology to the child, rearrangement of class seats, and a special session to review the issue. Our concern is how much it is appropriate to limit his use of the devices we have at home.
We have parental controls in place and have deleted two social media accounts (in any case he was under the minimum age to keep these).
Much of the advice we find online deals with older groups and is about inappropriate sexual or racist content. It’s just a group of boys and girls making fun of each other. Should I start relaxing the restrictions on my son?
— Anon, London W6
Mr. Anon
That’s right, let’s clean up the things we don’t have to worry about, shall we? First, there is the issue of bullying. solved. The school identified it, the parents were put in a loop, your son regretted it, and the problem was resolved. . You can move on.
Then your boy’s online activities. Sounds to me like you have good control over this. You have correctly deleted his social his media his account (most such sites have a minimum age of 13 for him and sometimes older). Another box was checked.
Finally, don’t allow him screen time unless an adult is present. At his age, he definitely shouldn’t! So it sounds like you’re doing pretty much everything by the book.
I certainly can’t be overly controlling or looking unnecessarily harsh. Leave it as it is, Anon. you are doing a good job
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