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Since becoming McAfee Chief Cyber Security Mom, I have heard many people in the Internet Safety arena say that it is more likely for your child to get hit by a car than for them meet a pedophile online. I understand their argument; they don’t want to create hysteria about something that is unlikely to happen. But in my mind there is a problem with that vein of thought. A good friend of my son got hit by a car two years ago and aren’t my kids are less likely to get hit by a car because I teach them how to cross the street starting as soon as they can walk?
So when I saw this post by the FBI, I decided that I would do a post about online predators right away. This sentence sunk into my brain immediately:
“When a young person visits an online forum for a popular teen singer or actor, Wing said, “Parents can be reasonably certain that online predators will be there.” It is believed that more than half a million pedophiles are online every day.”
The criminal goes where the people are, right? The article goes on to explain how pedophiles once went to parks and zoos, now frequent the websites kids go to such as fan sites and gaming websites. Kids often share so much personal information online, sometimes the predator can get enough information about a child before they even contact them or send a friend request.
I urge you to read this article in its entirety and watch the video if you have kids. Nothing is more important than keeping them safe.
1. Talk to your kids about strangers they meet online starting with the littlest surfers. You don’t have to scare them to get them to understand that a person they meet online can be very different from the image they put forth.
2. Teach kids how to protect their online identity by using aliases, never sharing personal information such as school, address, photos, etc online, and to never meet anyone they meet online.
3. Understand what the devices in your home can access. Keeping kids safe on the computer is only half the battle. Kids can access the Internet on gaming devices and phones as well. Teach them that these rules apply on all electronic devices. This goes for kids, tweens and teens!
4. Be engaged in what activities your kids participate online. Having them show you what they like to do online is fun and can show you where the teachable moments need to be so they stay safe and don’t share too much information online.
5. Keep learning about the dangers by watching the news, reading blogs (like mine and the rest of the McAfee team) and signing up for alerts from the FBI – Then talk to your kids about it. You don’t have to make it scary to keep your teen informed.
It is very frightening to hear Shawn Henry say that there may be 750,000 predators online. However, it only takes a bit of time to empower your kids and give them the tools they need to stay safe online.
Help your kids stay safe out there, today!
Tracy
@McAfeeCyberMom on Twitter
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Tags: how to talk to kids, how to talk to teens, kids online behavior, online predators