By Melina Ann Collison
By DeclanTM
St. Louis – Children are the jewels of our future. The kids of today will be our Presidents, First Ladies, Secretary of State, doctors, and psychiatrists, among so many other things. Let’s treat them like the valuable asset they are. Our hopes and dreams for improving our nation lie in the hands of our country’s children.
We need to protect our children in every way possible and that includes the Internet. Our Internet will enrich the lives of children by expanding minds with millions and millions of facts found right at their fingertips. However, the Internet is also like sending your child into a room of sexual predators, rapists, child abusers, murderers, and other violent criminals. You might think that you child is safe online but you are wrong. Do not send them to the harsh world without first giving them the knowledge they need to succeed.
What if you suspect your child is already being victimized or preyed upon? How do you know?
Here are some signs that your child is at risk online:
- Your child is utilizing someone else’s account information online. –If you see your child using accounts online that belong to other people you need to investigate. Maybe you do not have Internet access at your home; this would be a warning that they know someone. They could have met them at the library computer or a friend’s computer. Predators want to communicate with your children so they provide account information to do so.
- Your child gets mail from people you have never heard of. –Child predators will come pick your child up in front of your house, send them train/bus/plane tickets, or travel large distances to meet and victimize them. It is not uncommon for predators to send money, letters, gifts, packages, or photos to their prey.
- Your child is spending a great deal of time online. –This is especially relevant to being online at night and in chat rooms. Adults typically work during the day, so even though predators are online 24 hours a day more people will be online in the evenings. Your child can fall victim to this for many reasons; needing friends so they visit chat rooms, looking for something to do so they play online, or chatting with friends. If you find them online to much start monitoring where they go and how long they spend their time there.
- Your child starts getting phone calls from people you never knew or adults you don’t recognize. –Great deals of child predators want to talk sexual over the phone. Watch your home phone records and read your child’s cell phone bill carefully. Remember to look for collect calls or 800/888 numbers as well as phone numbers you don’t recognize.
- Your child withdraws from activities they once enjoyed or from friends and family. –Internet child predators do not want their victim’s to be close with friends and family so they can prey against them. Furthermore, a child will become withdrawn after being raped or victimized sexually.
- Your child has porn on their personal computer or your family computer. –Just because the entire family uses the computer does not mean a child isn’t hiding something. Look at your hard drive and disks carefully. Predators like to use pornography to start talking about sex and to make “everything seem normal.”
- Your child jumps to close the Internet page that’s open, turn the monitor off, or hide what they are doing online. –Your child is not going to want you to know who they are talking to or what they are doing. They will get rid of the evidence as fast as possible.
For more info:
The FBI has great information for keeping your children safe on their website.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s website is also full of great information on staying safe and teaching your children how to stay safe.
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Comments
What an excellent article. Thanks for sharing this valuable information with us!
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