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STAY SAFE ONLINE
2545 Illinois Route 26 S.
Freeport, IL
815-232-8120
“We at the Freeport Walmart are
proud to be a drug free workplace
and expect drug free employees!”
34 North Whistler Ave. • Freeport, IL
815-235-6171
“We are proud to support
an ABUSE free future for
our youth!”
STS ROCKFORD
815-229-7400
“Kids, peer pressure is
always there, but keep
on TRUCKING to a drug
free future!”
5245 27th Ave. • Rockford, IL
815-964-9471
We are proud to
be a drug free
workplace.
305 Peoples Avenue • Rockford, IL
4801 American Rd.
Rockford, IL
815-874-0913
“We are proud supporters
of ABUSE Prevention in
our community!”
10
Internet Safety for children is something
I find very important. A staggering number
of children, over 5,000 every year, are kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and even murdered, after meeting someone in a chat room.
My mission and purpose is to provide parents
with the resources to help keep their children
safe online.
Eight Tips to Help Your Child
Avoid Online Predators
It is so important to educate our children about the dangers associated with the
Internet, specifically, Online Predators; being
knowledgeable about the tactics used by
these predators, will go a long way to ensuring
their personal safety. Here are eight tips to
keeping your child safe online:
1. Establish limits - Tell them which
websites they are allowed to visit. If you
don’t want them visiting Social Networks,
then explain this to them, alerting them
to the dangers involved. Most teens love
these Social Networks and that is usually
one of the first things that a teen will do
when they have access to a computer,
but Social Networks are a major hunting
ground for Internet Predators, and they
need to understand that.
Predators look for children of certain ages,
gender, etc; therefore, they unknowingly
make themselves targets.
4. Know who is contacting your child Who they are talking to online? Do they
frequent social networking sites, forums,
or play any type of online games? These
are all places with chat capabilities and
they may have come across a predator
and are not even aware of it. Who is on
their Buddy list? Ask them to show you. If
you have ANY reason to believe that your
child may be talking to people that they
shouldn’t, then please see the products
listed in the “Internet Safety Products
“section. There are products that can give
you a snapshot of the pages your child
is frequenting, passwords, keystrokes,
chat logs, and you can restrict access to
certain websites. They can give you peace
of mind.
2. Surf with your Child - Spend some time
understanding the types of places that
interests your child and see if you feel
that it is safe for them. Do you know a
safer site for them, suggest it.
5. Ask your child if they have been
approached by anyone that made them
feel uncomfortable - If there is someone
that stands out in their mind, someone
who was particularly disturbing, they may
feel the need to tell you. I say that they
“may” tell you, because your child may
be embarrassed of the encounter, or feel
that they are in some way responsible.
Explain to them that although the Internet
can be a great learning tool, it also has
a downside; sick individuals whose sole
purpose is to prey on the innocence of
children.
3. Show them how to keep their personal
information private - Kids don’t
understand the dangers involved when
they share their personal information and
that is when we need to make sure that
they are safeguarding all of their personal
information. Real name, phone number,
address, email, school information, and
gender should not be identifiable. Internet
6. Alert them to the dangers of a face-toface meeting with someone they have
only met online - Thousands of 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
| Illinois Spring/Summer 2014 | abusemagazine.org
Source: http://www.luvnbigd1.blogspot.com/