How To Help Your Child Deal with a Cyber-Bully

The Internet can take bullying to a whole new level.

An unflattering photo, a vicious comment, a mean tweet or a slam on Facebook can not only hurt its intended victim, it can spread like wildfire reaching hundred of kids in mere minutes. How should a kid respond? 

And what can you, as a mom or dad, do against cyber-bullying?

The first and most important thing is to not respond. That is what the bully wants and it only tends to fuel the fire, according to Carrie Goldman, parenting expert and author of "Bullied".

Goldman learned the hard realities of bullying when her first grader was bullied for bringing a Star Wars thermos to school, according to the website summary of her book on Harper Collins.com. A blog post about her true story went viral all around the world, blowing up on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, CNN.com and Yahoo.com.

Older kids may turn from physical violence to cyber-bullying to inflict harm.

"You don't ever want to lash out at someone online because all you're going to do is weaken your own case," Goldman said in this video clip on AOL On titled "Teaching Your Child to Stand Up to a Bully."

"Evidence is key when you're dealing with bullies," Goldman said, encouraging people to take screen shots of cyber-bullying to have a record of the information in order to present it to school or local officials. 

Goldman shares practical tips with Marlo Thomas, actress, producer, and social activist, in this video clip frommarlothomas.com. Watch it for ideas to help your child stay safe at school and online.

Is cyber-bullying a problem in your town? Should schools do more? Or does all of the responsibility fall on the kids and their parents? Tell us in the Comments.