What Every Parent Needs to Truly Understand As a parent, your instinct is to fix the problem quickly. To call the school. To confront the other child. To make the pain stop today. That instinct comes from love. But before solutions and action plans, what most parents need first is solid understanding. Not just of what bullying looks like on the surface, but of how it actually works beneath it, and why it affects children so deeply. Bullying is not just “mean behaviour.” It’s not a one-off comment or a bad day between kids. True bullying is a pattern. It’s repeated. It’s deliberate. And most of the time, it is about power and control, not personality clashes. One of the most overlooked tools a bully uses is anonymity. When there is no clear face, no clear name, no obvious accountability, the behaviour escalates. Online, that might be fake profiles, anonymous messages, group chats with hidden identities, or accounts that disappear and re-appear. In person, it can be whispers behind backs, notes without names, rumours that “just appear,” or damage done when no one is watching. For a child, anonymity is terrifying. There is no single person to be wary of. It could be anyone. Every laugh in the hallway feels suspicious. Every vibration of a phone creates tension. Every quiet moment becomes loud in their mind. This creates a state of constant alert, a young nervous system that never fully relaxes. It is exhausting. And that exhaustion alone can affect sleep, concentration, confidence, and overall mental health. Then there is fear, the true engine that keeps bullying alive. Fear doesn’t always come from direct threats. Often it’s implied. Fear of what might happen if they speak up. Fear of being more embarrassed. Fear of losing friends. Fear that the adults will make it worse. Fear of retaliation that happens when no one is around. Over time, fear becomes the bully’s voice inside the child’s own head. It tells them to stay quiet, to stay small, to tolerate things they should never have to tolerate.

I want to go over some of the most common scams on Facebook today, and more importantly, why they work. Facebook scams have evolved far beyond the simple profile cloning that was so prevalent. Today’s attackers operate with layers of social engineering, psychology, and high-pressure manipulation that mirrors real-world predatory tactics. It's not random spam anymore. It’s calculated, targeted, and designed around human emotion. One of the most common is the fake “Your Account Will Be Disabled” warning. The digital version of a fake police officer knocking at your front door. These messages arrive as posts, comments, or private messages and usually contain language like: “Your page is under review for copyright violations,” “We detected unusual activity,” or “You must verify ownership within 24 hours.” They’re dressed up with Meta branding, blue checkmarks, and professional formatting designed to look official. What they’re really targeting isn’t your account, it’s your fear of losing control. Your memories, business pages, contacts, identity, and social proof all live on that platform. When people feel that access is being threatened, logic shuts down. Instinct takes over. You click the link. It takes you to a pixel-perfect Facebook login page. You enter your details. In that moment, your information is captured and used instantly. The attacker logs in, often within seconds, changes the email address, phone number, and password, and locks you out. In more advanced versions, they even add a fake two-factor authentication step, asking you to enter the SMS code, which of course is sent to them. You don’t just lose access. You hand them the keys and the alarm code at the same time. Another highly effective method is what I call the “Friend in Crisis” scam. Essentially a digital kidnapping of someone you trust. The scammer gains access to a real account through a weak password, a leaked database, or a lack of two-factor authentication. Once inside, they don’t change the profile. They become that person.

Here's the Active Shooter Training webinar that I ran today that shows the basic ideas of surviving an active threat situation. Simple lifesaving ideas. It's not the full course that we teach, but it'll give you some immediate usable advice. Enjoy and let me know what was eye opening for you.