Parenting Expert and Board Certified Family Physician Dr. Deborah Gilboa (http://www.askdrg.com) (aka Doctor G) joins Jason and Alan for Episode 39 recorded on location at the Paradise Point Resort & Spa (http://www.paradisepoint.com/) in San Diego.  Doctor G is also a mother of 4 and an international parenting writer & speaker.  The topic for this episode is bullying.  Kids are being bullied, on the playground, at school, among friends, with siblings, and the most powerful one of cyber bullying (online).

Social media doesn't allow the child to escape the bullying.  Here  are some stats from rawhide.org

72% of teens report cyber-bullying in the past year

25% report being bullied more than once

90% of teens say they have seen someone be mean or cruel to another person on social media

95% of teens who witnessed bullying on social media report that others, like them, have ignored the behavior

There are also a lot of types of bullying:

* Exclusion

* Cyberstalking

* Gossip

* Outing/Trickery

* Harassment

* Impersonation

* Cyber Threats

* Flaming

Here are some other interesting stats on bullying for teens:

66% respond to the bully

15% skip school because of bullying (3 million children skip school each month)

25% have a face to face altercation with the bully

8% get in a physical fight

1 in 5 consider suicide

1 in 10 attempt suicide

When your kid is the bully it's important to focus on the behavior and not the child.  In other words, talk about how the behavior is bad, not that the child is bad.  So they may have tried bullying, and it wasn't ok.  Ask the questions like "What else could you have done?" or "Is there a different way to handle the situation?"

Bullying is a natural part of adolescence, it's just not accepted behavior.  We need to teach our children to understand how to treat other people and how to handle situations when they feel they are being bullied.

To learn more about Doctor G you can visit her website at www.askdrg.com (http://www.askdrg.com) or follow her on the various social channels.  She has some excellent videos, articles, and tips.