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The Truth About Child Internet Predators
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If you currently have a home computer with Internet access, and you have a small child in your home that is going to be requesting time online in the near future, you should seriously consider purchasing parental control software to keep your child safe. According to recent statistics, there are over 600,000 registered sex offenders in the United States alone and more and more of those offenders are turning to the Internet to find their next victim. The only thing standing between them and access to your family is the right parental control software that can limit the sites your children view as well as the programs they are allowed to access. Best of all, these programs allow for multiple accounts to be set up so that access can varied for young children, teenagers and, of course, you and other adults in your household. Let's take a look at some common ways child internet predators try to make contact with children online.
Although social networking sites like Facebook haven't been around very long, they have quickly become the single most popular way child Internet predators and sexual predators seek out new victims. Luckily, these sites have various security settings that can eliminate the chat option and limit the posting of pictures, as well. Make sure that your child or teen never posts pictures of themselves on their social networking site, unless access to the site is very limited.
Instant messaging programs like AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Instant Messenger and MSN are also very common avenues for child Internet predators to use. Often times, online predators will look for kids in chat rooms run by the instant messaging service and then privately message the people in the room one by one until they find someone who will talk with them. Parents can fight back by forbidding any instant messaging program until a child reaches a certain age and is ready to handle the responsibility. Parental control programs can also block these programs from being accessed by your children, as well.
Education is also a huge part of keeping your kids safe from child Internet predators and ensuring child internet safety in general. Having clear and open lines of communication can help to encourage your child to come to you if they should happen to run into any suspicious activity online. Your child will undoubtedly be curious about certain aspects of the Internet and it is up to you to make sure that they feel comfortable coming to you to ask questions about what they see. The more open you are, the better chance you have of nipping any contact your child may have with an online predator in the bud. It is important to also note that kids are incredibly computer savvy these days and will invariably come across something they aren't supposed to be looking at online at some point. While it is always a good idea to have rules about what can be accessed and what can't, don't scare your child into not coming to you if they find themselves uncomfortable.
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