It is completely natural for a 12 year old to be chatting online with a 45-year old trucker. Lets invite him over to watch a movie!

Do you know who your kid is chatting with on the internet or who they have in their Facebook friends? How old are they? How does your kid know them?



The internet and online technology has grown by leaps and bounds since the early 90s and we sometimes forget that our kids are experiencing the web in a completely different way than we did.

Not only do we have IRC and instant messengers, but we also have social networks like Facebook and Google Plus. As time goes on, more and more services and technologies are being formed to interconnect people all around the world. The problem is that some of these people may want to "interconnect" with your child in other ways, if you catch my meaning.

Pedobear Approves

The point is that a lot of parents, still, do not think about these things. Yes, they may try to shield their child from porn on the internet but they never think about talking to their kids about online predators or even cyber bullying. So their kid could be talking to a 45 year old trucker who wants nothing more than to visit your child on his next trip through town. Sorry, I am not trying to insinuate anything about truckers, I am just using it as an example, nothing more. Actually, the fact is that your child could be taken advantage of by anyone who can talk to them through a chat box. Maybe a high school guy down the street, or a seemingly friendly neighbor.

So how do we protect our kids from all of this? Do we just forbid them to use social networks and chat programs?

That is probably the worst thing you could possibly do. If you forbid these things, they will very likely just do it behind your back and you will be completely in the dark if something bad happens.

When your child starts using the internet for social interaction you need to be right there with them to teach them the do's and don'ts, to keep tabs on who they are talking to, and who they are friending on social networks. If you do not know who someone they are friending or chatting with, ask them who they are and how they know them. Teach them to be selective on who they friend and not just accept requests from people they do not know well.

Lastly, be sure to have the computer in a place where they cannot close a door and hide what they are doing online. The more likely someone might walk by and see what they are doing or see who they are talking to, the less likely they will do anything dangerous. Yes, they may still do these things in other places. But if you continue to monitor them, let them know that you are keeping an eye on them for safety, and talk to them about what they are doing online, then you can reduce the chance of your kids getting into trouble or danger.