ABUSE MAGAZINE kids have been kidnapped, sexually assaulted, or even murdered after meeting someone from a chat room. Our ultimate goal is to make sure that our children know the dangers associated with that. They need to understand that people are not always who they seem to be. That is how Internet Predators lure children, by pretending to be another teen, sharing in the same interests, pretending to be understanding to their problems, all the while, gaining their confidence, waiting until it is time to make their move.
7. Report any sexual images and inappropriate contact- If your child has received sexual images, links to sexual web sites, disturbing emails, or any unwanted and dangerous contact, report
Photo Source: www. theparentreport. com
them immediately to your local law enforcement, additionally, to the Cyber Tipline. Do not try to download or save the images, delete them, or move them, as it may destroy the evidence.
8. Communicate with your child- This is the most important element to keeping your child safe online, and I cannot stress this enough. Make yourself approachable by being understanding, which will make it easier for your child to come to you when they need to. A child is never to blame when someone hurts or harasses them; the perpetrator is the only one at fault.
We are the only ones that can protect our children from the dangers that lurk online. If you keep an open line of communication with your children, then half the battle is won.
805 West Main Street Waukon, IA
“ We are proud to supply our youth with the parts they need while on their ABUSE Free Quest!”
What Your Teen Doesn’ t Want You to Know
Secrets Revealed
How many of you watch Dateline’ s To Catch a Predator series? If you haven’ t seen it and you have children, then catch the video entitled,“ A Reality Check for Parents,” located here.
In an anonymous survey, Dateline asked teens between the ages of 14 and 18, questions about their online activity, and the results may terrify you. When asked about whether or not they have talked to a stranger online, only four percent of teens said that they did not chat with someone they did not know. That means that the majority of teens are putting themselves in extreme danger, regardless of the endless hours of lecturing that they are getting from us parents.
Fifty eight percent of teens said a stranger had asked to meet with them. At every minute of every day, predators are searching for a way into our children’ s lives, and chances are, our children have run across a predator at one time or another.
Another twenty-nine percent of teens had a scary experience online. I don’ t even like to think about the different things that have happened to children that have upset
and terrified them. We can only imagine, because our children don’ t always tell us about their experiences, for reasons only known to them.
Almost half of the children surveyed, also admitted that they share too much of their personal information. The most important rule of Internet Safety is being broken by our teens! What can we do about that? We’ ll get back to that in a second.
The majority of teens say that they use the computer responsibly, while a high percentage observe other teens being irresponsible online. Ninety percent of those teens who think that they are being responsible online, have no idea what it really means to be responsible, or they wouldn’ t be chatting with strangers, which ninety six percent of them admitted to doing.
It is NEVER okay to meet someone that they have met online. There are just too many risks involved. Let them watch Dateline’ s To Catch a Predator series, so that they can see this for themselves. These predators have a single purpose, and that is to sexually assault your child, or worse. Don’ t let them be another statistic.
740 9th St. NW- Waukon, IA
563-568-4526
“ We care and we are proud to help keep our youth abuse free”
www. reiserimpl. com
S & Dcafe
Sandy & Al Halverson
“ Proud to be a Drug Free workplace!”
13 W. Main St.- Waukon, IA 563-568-9944
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