Every parent of teenagers should know that online bullying is a reality. Early January this year, when the school had just opened after the Christmas vacation, my 16 year old daughter came home from school looking really worried. Normally she is really open with me and shares most of her funny and awkward events of the day, But that day she was in no mood to talk. She didn’t want to have her after school snacks. She just sat with her mobile texting her various friends. My typical motherly instinct set in. I immediately sensed there was something wrong somewhere. I let her be alone for sometime and then slowly broached the topic as to what was bothering her so much. After a lot of cajoling and promising to keep whatever she says a secret, she finally opened up. She said “there is an anonymous blogger who is disclosing all the secrets of the classmates on his/her blog”.

It’s a known fact that teens keep there secrets with only their closest friends and are always apprehensive about the secrets being leaked out. It seems the blogger was mentioning some so called nasty personal details about everyone. Of course, my daughter was relieved that her name didn’t feature in the blog yet but she was really worried about her other friends and the emotional trauma they were going through. The kids had tried to identify the blogger with their limited means but had failed to do so. When I offered to check with other parents, she was scared that the teachers will get to know about the secrets and the affected students  would be suspended. Moreover, it seems the blogger was constantly mentioning of suffering from depression adding to my daughter’s fear that if the identity gets revealed the person may kill himself/herself. Just imagine the plight of these teens who just don’t know what kind of trouble they may land in just by being on social media.

Of course, I  managed to handle the situation by speaking to the school authorities. They somehow managed to find the identity of the child and persuaded him to take down the pages. Of course my daughter never got to know this. I silently thanked God for the openness I share with the daughter. Just imagine if this had continued for any longer, how the affected kids would have handled this, especially since they can’t communicate properly with their parents. I want to share this with other parents so that they become aware of the dangers the teenagers face these days for being online. I feel it’s important to have a very open relationship with the teens so that they are not scared to approach the parents with the issues bothering them.