To the Editor:
Re “As Bullies Go Digital, Parents Play Catch-Up” (“Poisoned Web” series, front page, Dec. 5):
As I read the very informative article, I noticed that there was no discussion of parents’ teaching their children personal values, starting at a very young age. In previous generations, parents worked to instill values, such as self-reliance, individual strength against crowd behavior, and that old one, “Do unto others.”
It seems that by the time children are exposed to cyberbullying it may be a little late. Although the stresses of work, financial problems, divorce and the many issues of modern life make it hard for parents to take the time to teach their children the traditional values we learned from our parents, surely they can see the result of this omission in the misuse of cyberspace.
Children do have to be taught, and cyberbullying is merely a (much) more extreme form of the face-to-face bad behavior of past generations. Many parents are deeply involved in their children’s education, college preparation, after-school activities and sports; the importance of passing on to the next generation, by word and by example, the values of a decent society seems to have been mislaid in the process.
Linda Hacker
New York, Dec. 5, 2010
Note from KBJ: The key words are "by example." Children whose parents are thugs learn thuggishness from them.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 