Cyberbullying Prompts One Mom to Take Action

When her daughter was a victim of bullying, she launched the Great American NO BULL Challenge

When Shawn Edgington's daughter, Nicole Edgington, was bullied during her senior year of high school, stalked and physically threatened online, she knew she had to do something.

Shawn started her quest to help her daughter by writing the bestselling book for parents about understanding how to parent today's connected teens called, The Parent's Guide to Texting, Facebook and Social Media: Understanding the Benefits and Dangers of Parenting in a Digital World.When researching the book, she came across this alarming statistic:almost 50 percent of teenagers have experienced cyberbullying, sometimes with deadly results.

Related: Children's Health Foundation: Good Food, Safe Schools for Kids

Shawn developed a nation-wide campaign that would use the power of social media to draw attention to the issue of cyberbullying in a really big way. Thus, the idea forThe Great American NO BULL Challenge, a video contest coupled with a teen video awards show, was born. The contest begins this Sunday, Jan. 15.

"The Parent's Guide is a great success, and we received a great deal of press and attention to this important issue as a result, [but] I just felt it wasn't enough," Shawn told me. "I needed to do something on a national level to draw attention to this epidemic and empower students to make bullying the 'un-cool' thing to do.

"No doubt, the bullying conversation needs to start at home with the parents, but the bullying is happening because KIDS think it's OK or are oblivious to how hurtful their actions are," she continues. "If we can motivate kids to stop the conduct, that is where we are going to win big, which is what The Great American NO BULL Challenge is all about."

As the author ofThe Parent's Guide to Facebook,Kathryn Rose as become very involved in the campaign to support and promote Shawn's initiative. She wrote a blog post about working with her, even though they have books that have almost identical titles. Why am Kathryn promoting her book? The answer is simple:coo-petition. On an issue as important as this, it's no time to compete against one another.

To find out more about the Great American No Bull Challenge and the NO BULL Teen Video Awards, go to genConnect.com.

For more parenting tips from life's best experts:
Goldie Hawn: Revolutionizing the Way Kids Learn
Tom Sturges: Grow the Tree You Got
How to Protect Your Child From Hazing

Follow them at @NOBULLcontest

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NOBULLChallenge

YouTube: http://youtube.com/nobullchallenge

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About the author:


Kathryn is an author, speaker and social media strategist and trainer with clients ranging from multi-million dollar corporations, to small business owners and entrepreneurs.