It is a well known fact that the Internet contains its fair share of criminals, and a good number of them seek to prey on children and young adults. Parents are of course the first line of defense and even as many are becoming more Internet savvy and seek to safeguard their children, there are some obstacles which simply do appear to be insurmountable.
Parents of teens traversing the Internet in the pursuit of homework help and also social networking know that things are not safe but quite frequently they do not realize just how bad things have gotten. The statistics of online predators are alarming and the Crimes against Children Research Center reports that of children who are online for any reason, about one quarter have at some time been exposed to pornography, even though it was not something for which they searched.
Since social networking sites are here to stay, parents will be wise to work with their kids to help them make good choices when it comes to interacting with friends and also strangers on these sites. To suggest that kids should never enter into discussions with those whom they do not know might be sage advice, but it is entirely unrealistic. To this end, parents applaud the new Internet safety policies on Facebook, especially since the site is seriously seeking to eliminate objectionable content and also posters.
There are various Internet safety software recommendations every parent should know. First and foremost is the kind of software that will monitor, filter and restrict a child’s access to sites featuring predetermined content; this kind of software is commonly chosen by schools and other institutions of learning where children are expected to utilize the computer and where such safeguards stand between the child and the vastness of the ‘
Net with its pornography, solicitations and other objectionable materials.
The Web Safe Kid website, a premier resource for parents serious about keeping children safe while they are gradually beginning their online learning, studying, and socializing habits, advocates that a safe child is an aware child. The reality goes even further than this; catching online predators requires awareness as well: those of parents, caregivers, law enforcement, and of course the child her- or himself! In some cases, such awareness might even permit one child to save another’s life!
If you believe that it is sufficient to assist law enforcement agencies in their efforts of catching online predators, you are sadly mistaken. For each and every online predator that is apprehended and convicted, there are plenty of others ready to step up and take their places in the chat rooms, message boards, forums, and social networking sites frequented by teens and even younger children. Sure, catching online predators is a start, but the only true way of keeping children safe as they are online comes with training them how to act when they might come under attack.
