Son being bullied online

[MrsSnape]

My son has been having problems with kids online since the start of the summer holidays. One is a girl in a year above him at school who sends him abusive messages non-stop then sends messages saying she's going to block him and never to contact her again (he never does!) and then she unbloks him straight afterwards and sends more abuse. All of a sudden she'll be nice to him, then it starts up again.

Then I've just logged into his hotmail account and there is a message on there from a boy in his class calling him gay, a saddo and a four eyes this is a boy DS has already blocked off msn for abusive messages.

DS never gets involved in arguments with these people, he just ignores them or sends messages back saying stuff like "ok" or "if it makes you happy" etc etc...

Its making me mad and I just had to refrain from sending an email reply to that boy asking if he's ever looked in a bloody mirror as he's hardly a picure of perfection himself but I stopped myself.

I'm not stopping DS from using the net, why should he? so what should we do?

[ShinyPinkEELSwithShoesOn]

Presumably you have their names to track down their parents and sort it out with them and the school?

How old is he?

[forevercleaning]

can you print off any of these message as proof?

You can report it to the police.

I really feel for you and your DS and hope it get's sorted asap

[MrsSnape]

yes we do. I'm saving all of the msn conversations and emails. DS just told the girl this and she was full of apologies and begged him not to report her so we'll see how that one goes.

He's 9 (I know some will disagree with him being allowed on msn at all but we have our reasons).

[pudding25]

At that age, I would speak to the headteacher when school starts. I thought he must be a teenager when I read this.

[lou33]

he needs to block these people on msn so they cant unblock him, and block their email accounts

talk to the school and get them to involve their parents

how awful for him and you, some kids are little shits, without a doubt

[ilovemydog]

My (younger) cousin had the same problem.

His parents ended up putting parental controls on the internet. Sad, but some kids can be such bullies.

[MrsSnape]

one of the messages read

"you buck tooth cunt" and she's 10!

[Hecate]

print them out and take copies to head teacher.
change hotmail account and give new details only to close and trusted friends.
do email back and say this is X's mother, I will be forwarding this to your parents.
ensure he doesn't even open emails from senders he doesn't know and trust.

[scanner]

I have a 9 year old and I'd be very upset if she got messages like that. I totally agree with Hecate.

[chapstickchick]

mrs snape why dont you block all these kids?

by blocking them first hes choosing not to be bullied -im not condoning bullying ive seen plenty of it with my own ds but this is a positive step you can make.

[christywhisty]

Definitely involve school.
Some boys in DS's school nearly got excluded for setting up an online blog calling another boy gay. It was only because they confessed that they didn't get exluded