Cybersafety: What to Teach Your Children about Cyberpredators

It is important to instill in your children the idea that they do not necessarily “know” the person that they may have been chatting to or playing games on line. Cyberpredators often present themselves as young children on line in order to gain information about children. Instill in your children that cyberpredators can be great POSERS. Making your children aware of the “grooming process” that cyberpredators use may go a long way towards protecting them. An instant message of “ASL” (which is asking for age, sex and location) could be the beginning of that grooming process.
Talk to your children about ways that they can stay safe on the internet. They should not give anyone personal information or post pictures. Seemingly harmless pictures can provide predators with clues as to your child’s location. One girl posted a picture of her playing soccer for her eighth grade team. Using the colors and number on the uniform, and the town she was from, he was able to track her down. Encourage your children not to fill out profile information, to delete email from senders they don’t know and never give anyone their password. Assist them in developing their screen names and e-mail addresses so that they do not provide predators with hints to their identity. Examples of some screen names to steer your children away from are: Mary_Smith, SweetGirl12, or Jennifer_luvs_HagertyHS. If someone is bothering your child on the internet, teach your child how to change their screen name or block that person. A good policy to have is to only let friends that they know join their Buddy List. Make sure that they check with their friend before adding friends of a friend to their list, as the friend may not know this person.
Most important of all, teach them never to meet anyone face to face that they only know from the internet. I understand that this is not a popular stance to take and you may run the risk of having your child sneak out and go anyway. Use your best judgment when deciding whether to let them go, you know your child best. Never let them go alone. Go with them and make sure that prior to the meeting that the chat buddy knows that you are going to be there. If this is a predator, they probably will not show if they know you are going to be there.
In today’s society, the internet plays a vital role in our children’s lives. In order to keep them safe in cyberspace, it is important that we provide them with the necessary tools and education about the dangers of the internet.