Diane, that's awful for your ds - how is he holding up? Must have been a huge shock for the school community.

Like Inertia we have internet access in family areas only. Email accounts are not private in this house and the kids know I check them from time to time.

Even so, my 11 yo sent some questionable emails to a friend last month, just *****ing about another friend. I sat her down and talked to her about how that might be misconstrued - what if the friend who got the emails passed them around to others and the girl found out? What if it came out that the things dd was saying were a misunderstanding, and she was accused of spreading rumours? Did she understand that that kind of thing could lose her the internet at school and at home? When I reminded her about the documentary we watched recently about a young man who committed suicide following cyberbullying, she was horrified and upset to realise that what she was doing was on the same spectrum, albeit much less directly harmful.

She lost her internet privileges for a while and had to explain to me today exactly what the issues were before having them returned.

Because cyberbullying has been a problem at her school, the teachers have also talked to the kids and handed around pamphlets explaining how to stay safe, and also how to respect others on the net.

I think like with most things adolescent, starting the conversations early and keeping them going, and setting consistent boundaries are the key.