My 12 year old son is being harassed via Instant Messenger, what should I do ?

Question

My 12 year old son, Bobby (little Bob) is being harrased via AOL Instant Messenger. He says that a 17 year old boy is calling him names and making fun of the way he looks. So I told my son to move away from the keyboard and let me try talking to this 17 year old, and then the 17 year old boy started attacking me via Instant Messenger, and started calling me names such as the b-word, the c-word, the mf-word and a combination of all of the above in one largely emotionally charged message. What is the best way for me to resolve this and to seek an apology from this boy ?

Answer 1

Block the user & report him to AOL.

Answer 2

Okay first you need to accept the fact that you're not going to get an apology from this 17 year old boy. Why? Because it's the internet and no cyber police is going to arrest him for use of vulgar language on a public information superhighway. Heck, I'd even laugh if you tried making me apologize since you're just a screen name to me.

Secondly, every instant messenger comes is a feature to block a user. I highly recommend using that.

Thirdly, stop coddling little Bob. He's 12 and I'm sure this won't be the last time someone says mean things to the poor lad so just make him accept the fact that some people are good seeds and others are bad seeds. Stick with the good and ignore or beat the crap out of the bad.

Sheesh....

Answer 3

A 17 year old who bullies younger boys and curses out that child's mother is not likely to apologize. Block his address and remove your son's photo or whatever this other person was making fun of. You can also report it to AOL if you want. If your son uses the same username on other sites, he may be followed around. Make sure to keep tabs on where he's going on who he is corresponding with. Why does a 12 year old have a 17 year old in his buddy list?

Answer 4

Cindy, sorry to hear about this. Chances are, you're not going to get an apology from this boy. There is an option on AIM to block the person who is harassing your son, so just get him blocked and you won't be bothered by him anymore. Also if possible report 'him'. That person might be a predator.

Hope this Helps!

Answer 5

If this behavior is taking place, do NOT block the user for the moment. This is because it will allow you to keep complete records of the chats. Simple copy & paste them in to Microsoft Word or something. Then contact AOL.

Answer 6

Block Him & Block the messanger you can do it so he doesn't see him on line either also block the mail as well.The best way is to Ignore the kid do you really think he'll say I'm sorry nope he won't you can copy & paste & report him to AOL make sure you copy the message send it to AOL they'll Suspend the Account
Good Luck

Answer 7

I say stop talking to him. Just block him and don't talk to him. If you don't know who is he is, why would you let your 12 year old child talk to a strange boy???? He could be a predator or something. Maybe you should monitor your son's internet activity a little more closely

Answer 8

As previously mentioned, I believe blocking him would help. Save the friend's list and have your son change his screen name. if this kid changes his name he can still harass your child. But you should definately teach you child that there are... for lack of a better term ***holes (I censored it as I can see that you are against foul language) out there and that the best thing to do is ignore them and if they are harassing him to go to someone who can help. Although, he did go to you so perhaps you have already covered this.

Answer 9

You can either delete messenger, or cancel the account, create a new acocunt and down load messenger for the new account, and hpe that the harrasher doesn't find him under the new screen name.

Answer 10

Block the user from sending messages to your son. Right click on the contact and set him to blocked.