Every parent worries about their children’s security online. As they get older we tend to grow more confident, watching the way that they handle themselves in general conversations and observing that they’re learning to assert themselves.
But online conversations, especially when they’re one-on-one, can be much more intensive, and even older children can find themselves overwhelmed. Online predators can be very proficient at dominating conversations so that children feel unable to get out of them even after they’ve started feeling uncomfortable. You need to provide them with the tools to get the space they need to think clearly and reassert themselves.
With so much to worry about when kids go online, it’s easy to forget what a great resource the internet can be for them. Whether they’re studying something for school, helping out with a family project, or simply exploring their own interests, it can provide them with an invaluable research tool.
If you make sure they stay out of trouble, going online can give them great research skills and general knowledge which will help them in the years to come.
If you have a teenage daughter, the chances are that you’ve already had arguments over food. A shocking eighty percent of Americans have tried dieting by the age of thirteen, though only a small percentage of them are actually overweight.
At this age, when the body is still developing, lack of proper nutrition can lead to long term health problems. Boys are at risk too, making up ten percent of eating disorder sufferers. For three to four percent of these children, ordinary dieting will develop into full blown anorexia or bulimia. Now, with the internet to focus their behaviour, those statistics are getting even worse.
