to take survey yourself
As a grandmother myself, I was surprised and yet not so surprised to see the early respondents of our StopCyberbullying Canada survey were fellow grandparents. Too often cybersafety organizations forget the role of grandparents as both the purchasers of their grandchildrens' digital devices and the ones with enough time to look at the realities of digital wellness and responsible use.
We care. It's not that parents don't care. But they are busy and grappling with a thousand and one things. Grandparents have a bit more time to focus on things like values, reputation and consequences. We have been around to see the results of careless and stupid actions. We are devastated by our inability to protect our grandchildren fully in cyberspace. We understand and appreciate the pain words can cause and fight like lions to protect our young grandchildren.
The survey is only a few days old, and the respondents are increasing by the hundreds daily. But, the ones who answered first (from the US, UK and across Canada) were the grandparents.
Our programs have always been grandparent-friendly and we have always included them in the ranks of caretakers, but this tells me that grandparents have to be front and center in the new StopCyberbullying Canada action plan. We'll be adding a few new action plan items to address their needs.
Hurray! Grandparents rock! And aren't their grandchildren lucky!
