How to Deal with Online Predators and Protect Your Kids?
Whenever we hand over new smartphones to our kids or give them internet access, certain threats scare us right away. It is not only about them doing the bad things over the internet, it is also about them being trapped by people who are looking out for such innocent kids. You can never know what type of people will your kids connect with on the internet and how will they affect the. It is all about knowing what your kids might face and how you can tackle these things. The more you know, the better you can do to make their experiences pure and beautiful.
Predators are everywhere. We know how to protect our kids from the predators roaming around them. We guide them not to take anything for free from anyone, not to let anyone touch them, not to trust anyone, not to go anywhere with anyone they don’t know, etc. But, what about the predators that you cannot see around you and are still making their way to your kids? Yes, there are plenty of online predators who are making their way to your kids without you having any idea. Even the kids don’t get to know unless they are being blackmailed. These online predators are everywhere on the internet and you should learn how to spy Facebook messenger to keep an eye out for them.
How do Online Predators Work?
Online predators work very smoothly and make their way directly to the heart of the kids. They make them trust them so that they can share their personal information with them including information about the house and other people. This is how most the online predators work:
- They come out as well-wishers for the kids making them believe that they only mean good to them without any reason. They know that this is the time of the kids’ lives when they feel vulnerable and sadly most of the time. They talk about things that could make the kids happy right away. This makes the kids believe that there are plenty of good people out there that can be found on the internet.
- They make relationships with these kids making them believe that they are worthy of many big things and that they should be rewarded more for being so good. We all know how these relationships work and how they lure the kids into sharing stuff that they shouldn’t be sharing at all. This way, they end up sharing intimate stuff that makes them vulnerable. It is very easy to blackmail them after they share such things and that’s what the predators do.
The main tactic of the predators is to make kids realize that they are worthy and they deserve much more than what they are getting in real life. This makes them believe that only such people can realize their worth and they should be open with such people. If only we could understand our kids in real life, and give them respect and space, they might not go to other places to seek that.
How to Handle Online Predators?
If you want to keep your kids safe and secure, there are certain things that you can do to help them handle these things and protect them from such monsters. Here are some of the things that you can do:
- You need to guide them and give them awareness about what is going on around them. Once they ask to join social media, then instead of ignoring them or trying to say no to them, teach them about the right and wrong of the internet and what are they going to face there. You need to show them how kids are being lured by these online predators and how they need to beware of such things.
- You can also use parental control software to make sure you know what they are doing and what sort of people are they connecting with. These monitoring apps can help you a lot in figuring out what is going on with your kids and how should you handle them. If they are in trouble, you will know right away through these apps and you can do whatever you wish to do to make sure they are safe and secure. Sometimes, kids don’t tell their parents about what they are going through because they fear that there will be limitations imposed. You need to make sure that they don’t feel that. You need to be there for them if they feel left out or alone.
Parents need to be very open-minded about the things that are going on in their kids’ lives. They need to know that the kids need freedom too but at the same time, they need to be protected as well. They need to know that their parents are there for them whenever they need them.
