Cyberbullying Education for the Very Young

So as educators we are becoming convinced that it is our responsibiity to make the students aware of the causes and the hurtful effects of cyberbullying. Such education should begin at the beginning of the school year and continue throughout the year. The presentation would be far more effective if constructed and presented by the older students, in my case grade five. But the question arises as to what grades will make up the audience. I look at children working or playing in their kindergarten classes, and I find it hard to believe that such innocence could produce hateful bullying or cyberbullying against other children. Yet these children are being exposed to more media, positive and negative than ever before and at an earlier age. With this exposure comes the potential for harmful learned behavior that could lead to bullying and cyberbullying. Parents want their children to compete with children around the world and be prepared to "keep up" in the 21st Century. This pressure to compete causes parents to start their children early whether it be sports, music, or academics. So it also goes for technology. If the door is open to all that today's internet has to offer, the good, the bad, and the ugly, isn't it possible that they are given the opportunity to be bullied or even to cyberbully someone else? With this in mind, why not follow along this pattern of early education and instill in them the message that cyberbullying is never something that they want to be involved in, offer them ways to prevent it, and if it happens to them, teach them ways that they can help themselves.If we capture this audience at a young age and continue to educate them with a continuing cyberbullying awareness program throughout their elementary school career, we may be able to stop or at least greatly decrease the magnitude of cyberbullying in their lifetime. Something needs to be done and there's no time like the present.