Threat to cause harm. The child expressed it.
Tips for Conversation about Threatening
1. Explain to your child that you learned they had used threatening language during gaming. This could include things like, “Do that again and I’m going to kill you!” or “I’m coming for you, idiot…” Why do kids do this? Each game has a culture. Threatening and insults may be part of the culture of the game. You can still tell your child you don’t want them to do this and go through some examples of game talk you find acceptable vs. unacceptable.
2. When a child or teen threatens other kids repeatedly, it may be because they want to have the upper hand or have a sense of power over others. Talk to your kids about how to sound strong or tough, if they want to, but keep language appropriate.
3. If your child disagrees that their language was threatening or problematic, let them know that you’ll be coming into the room a bit more so that you can hear it and decide for yourself. Also, remind them that they don’t know for sure how others view them and what they say) and should tone it down just in case they’re coming across as threatening! KIDAS has a fairly high threshold, so if the software flagged it, it was most likely aggressive language.
Recommendations written by: Kidas Experts