Internet Matters is a non-profit agency with a clear aim of inspiring parents and caregivers to keep kids safe in the digital world. On their website, they share an article on how to protect your child from grooming and online predators. Internet Matters implies that the easiest way to deal with grooming is to discourage it from occurring by ensuring that your child is well-informed, uses social networking privacy settings, and understands that whether they feel unsafe or worried, they should come to you. According to Internet Matters you should teach your child how to use privacy settings, keep their personal information, be aware of their surroundings and friends, review apps that they use, and encourage them to use child-friendly social networks like Spotlight, Kidzworld, and Groom social and assure they know the possible dangers of meeting strangers online.
- Protect children from online grooming. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2020, from https://www.internetmatters.org/issues/online-grooming/protect-your-child/
Link to a PDF guide that clearly explains how to create a safe environment for children:
2. The Innocent Lives Foundation is a website that posts about online safety and allows you to report a case if you or someone you know is in danger. For example one of their posts is about the process of grooming. Grooming is when a predator creates a friendship with a child or young person built on trust, emotional attachment so that they can control, misuse, and harass them. The Innocent Lives Foundation says that grooming can happen on every site that allows the individual to communicate with others for example social media or gaming sites. According to The Lives Foundation, six signs of grooming are: sending the victim many messages, implying to keep their conversations a secret, asking if the child is in the room alone, trying to get personal information or their address, sending sexual messages that may be masked as compliments or concern about prior sexual encounters, manipulating kids to send pictures and blackmailing them with images the victim might have already submitted. These predators usually lie about their name, age, gender, or life experiences. The Innocent Lives Foundation claims that usually, the goals of the predators are either online sexual abuse or meeting in real life. The behavior that indicates victims of grooming can be secrets about their messages, appearing sadder and more quiet, mood swings, inability to turn off the telephone leading to concern or stress and preoccupation (The Innocent Lives Foundation, 2020).
Source: B., M. (2019, January 09). Everything You Need to Know About Online Grooming. Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://www.innocentlivesfoundation.org/everything-you-need-to-know-about-online-grooming/
3. This last website is a Czech line of safety for children that you can call at any time. They help during any situation and as well provide articles about what to do if you appear in a dangerous situation.
- The next link is to a private program where you can chat, call, or email about any of your problems.
A video that explains what Child-line is: https://youtu.be/fCA6EhBhiC8
Picture retrieved from https://webstockreview.net/explore/future-clipart-future-research/
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