Online predating has become quite common in the world of the internet and social media. People often disguise themselves as youngsters and target young and innocent kids on the internet. They pretend to be their friends and win over their hearts by having a sweet talk with them.
In some cases, online predators only keep the relationship with kids online and try to get photos and videos of sexual nature from them only to blackmail them later. On the other hand, some online predators go to an extent of asking kids to meet them somewhere outside and force them to engage in sexual activities.
With online predating on the rise, all parents need to be worried about who their kids are talking to on social media and the internet, what sort of messages they are exchanging with others, and how they are dealing with such issues.
Kids with thinking and learning disabilities are more likely to become victims of online predators. As they are immature and vulnerable, they cannot understand the true intentions of the people they talk to online. Hence, they easily fall prey to online predators and put themselves at huge risk.
To protect kids and teens from online predators, it is important to follow some effective tips. Using a spy app without target phone and with a target phone is one of the most effective ways to monitor kids’ smartphone and online activities and keep them safe from sexual predators.
Let us discuss a few effective and significant tips that parents can follow to protect kids from online predators.
Educate Kids about Online Predators
Online predators have a habit of targeting kids and teens that have low self-esteem, who are depressed or lonely. Several kids with thinking and learning disabilities struggle a lot with academic as well as social skills.
That’s the reason why it is important to help your kid to be careful of people they meet on the internet. For that, you need to educate them about online predators and tell them how they trap vulnerable kids online.
You should tell them that sometimes most online predators disguise themselves as young kids whereas in reality they are old men or women pretending to be kids. Sometimes, predators also are teens and young adults that target victims. Kids should know how to recognize online predators by understanding their chats and things that they share with them.
Talk about Risky Behavior with Kids
Let us not deny the fact that all kids and teens are susceptible to risky behavior. However, kids with thinking and learning disabilities are more vulnerable and hence more prone to potential threats. They tend to be more curious about certain topics such as drugs, alcohol, and sex. In an attempt to express their independence and become curious about certain topics, they seek out friends on social media with whom they can interact on those topics.
Parents should talk about risky behavior with their kids. You should tell your kids that it is completely all right to be curious about certain things that they might find fascinating. At the same time, you should also explain to them that it is can be a bit risky and dangerous to discuss these topics with strangers on the internet.
Discuss Chat Rooms Dangers with Kids
Chat rooms are another place where most online predators target young and innocent kids on the internet. They get in touch with kids through direct messages in chat rooms and lure them with their sugar-coated conversations.
It is important to educate your kids about the dangers lurking in chat rooms. Kids should not talk to people who they do not know and who try to engage them through private chats. No matter how good or decent they seem, kids should not talk to them.
As we already know that kids with learning and thinking disabilities are slightly vulnerable and innocent because they are looking for relationships online that they cannot find in real life. Once they get into those fake online relationships, they have no idea how to get out of them. Therefore, parents should discuss chat rooms’ dangers with kids so they can be wary of them and stay away from potential threats.
Teach Offline Safety Rules to Kids
You should also teach some offline safety rules to your kids. Tell your kids why it is important to never agree to meet someone in person who they have only interacted with online and do not know in real life, especially without your knowledge and consent.
You should explain to your kids how meeting online people in the real world can put them in dangerous situations. No matter how decent they seem to be on chats and texts, kids can never know their true intentions. Therefore, they should not agree to meet people they do not know in real life.
You should also ask your kids to never put up their personal information including phone numbers, email IDs, school names, addresses, or any other information about themselves, family members, and friends. They can never know when online predators can use this information to find kids on the internet.
Use Monitoring Software
Parents can use monitoring software or parental controls to keep a check on their kid’s online and smartphone activities. Monitoring apps come into use when parents become suspicious of their kids. This happens when kids hide things from their parents. When kids start hiding these things from their parents, it is likely they are involved in a risky relationship or indulged in risky activities.
By installing an effective and reliable monitoring app on the kid’s smartphone, parents can spy on their chats, text messages, emails, internet browsing history, social media activity, as well as location. All those apps claiming to teach you how to find someone’s location by cell phone number are not worth trying as it is not practically possible to locate someone just by their cell phone number.
You must need some sort of a cell phone tracker that lets you track another person’s location or whereabouts. The only thing you need to take care of is that you should inform your kids about monitoring software before spying on their smartphone activities. That way kids won’t feel offended and won’t think that you are trying to invade their privacy.
Last but not least, every parent should tell their kids that they can come to them with any worries or questions that they might have in their heart. Parents should assure their kids that they can share everything with them and they won’t get mad at kids even if they broke some rule.
