Another thing to emphasize with your children or any of their friends is that if anyone gives them an unsafe, “icky” or scary feeling, no matter what, they should come tell you and you will keep them safe. By talking about these things openly and honestly with your children, you are empowering them to also be advocates for their peers who may not have safe homes or parents. Make sure they know you are happy to serve that role for their friends or classmates, and they are always welcome to speak to you about their concerns.
Because predators have become so sophisticated in their grooming techniques, it bears sharing a word about that as well. Rather than using brute force, most abusers create trust slowly over time, so that the victim does not even realize what is happening until it is too late. Predators use tactics such as friending, romance and showering their victim with elaborate gifts to gain their trust, only to isolate and manipulate them for their own gain. Pointing out these types of behaviors to your children and their peers will help them begin to notice and identify inappropriate relationships.
A final area of advice concerns technology. One out of nine children is approached by a predator on their smart devices. Unbelievably, 1 out of 7 preteens (9-12 year olds) have shared their own nude photos, with 50% having sent them to someone they have never met in real life. There are half a million online predators active each day and 89% of sexual advances directed at children occur in Internet chatrooms or through instant messaging.
Unbeknownst to you, your child’s cell phone is likely set by default to allow pornography and other explicit content. Even Siri can be a portal to predators and dangerous content on the web. Monitor and set the parental controls on your children’s devices, following these instructions for iPhone or Android. Photos taken and posted can also automatically contain “geotags” which can help predators track and locate your children. You’ll want to be sure you follow these instructions to remove geotag settings. And here’s a helpful guide from Frontier Internet on setting parental controls on video games, browsers and more. We can never be too safe or careful when it comes to protecting our children from both online and any other types of predators.
