Protect Your Children

We usually use this page for something inspirational or motivating. Today however, I want to share something with you that is a growing problem in our society and around the world. It is up to us to protect our children, even if it may upset them a bit. I’m talking about social media activities. I won’t list specific sites/apps in this article but will be doing so in the next one. My point here is to provide tips on monitoring your children’s activities online. The following are some bullet points to assist you in accomplishing this.

1. Do some research to get tips from professionals. Shared Hope International and BARK are two such places to start with.
2. It helps if the computer the children are using is located in a shared space in the house to make monitoring a little easier. Stay involved and check their browsing history on a regular basis.
3. Check their mobile devices and laptops regularly. Be aware of any new apps they may download. There are innocent looking apps out there that are in fact very dangerous.
4. Talk with your kids regarding safe social media practices and the dangers of starting conversations with someone they don’t know or only think they know. This is how predators work on a young person’s mind and gain trust. Warn children about sharing schedules, daily routines, addresses, names of schools, churches, clubs or even bus routes. The person they are chatting with may say they are 15 or 16 but in fact may be a 37 year old sex offender.
5. Be aware of privacy settings and check them regularly. Pay attention to online or video games, social media apps as well as music apps, pictures shared (which they shouldn’t do anyway), etc.
6. Do not allow use of devices at night. This leaves the door open to access prohibited areas while you sleep. Set firm boundaries that are age appropriate.
7. Discuss tactics used by predator’s which means you may have to spend a bit of time educating yourself on this issue. This way you can site specific cases that have occurred in your state.
8. If you hear of kids sending inappropriate pictures to each other, recognize this is not just a NORMAL part of growing up these days, because it IS NOT!!!! Sending an inappropriate picture is very dangerous because on the internet those pics NEVER go away. They never know who will see this pic and what they will do with it. It may be sent to a boyfriend or girlfriend who they really care about this week but have a fight and breakup later on. Now they are in possession of an inappropriate pic of your child and who knows what they will do with it or where they may post it.
9. A big point to make with your child is that underage sexting is illegal and if caught, even though they may be underage they can be charged with possession and distribution of child pornography.
10. Use the parental controls provided on your child’s device.

Well, I don’t want this to be too lengthy but I felt the subject to be important enough to address on this page. This world is not a safe place and we must do our best to protect our youth from the predators that are out there waiting to harm them.