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A parents’ guide to online predators
Our experts' guide to identifying grooming behaviours and how to safeguard children from online predators.
Online ’grooming’ is how sexual predators pursue young people through a digital platform or device. When it comes to children’s online activities, accessibility of personal information and lack of security and supervision are two of the main factors that help online predators commit these heinous acts.
Grooming happens easily, and doesn’t necessarily discriminate. ‘Good children’ can be just as vulnerable to online predators because of their developmental stage (lack of critical thinking ability) and innocent willingness to trust others who seem like fun, helpful or exciting new friends.
Children and teens of all ages are vulnerable to online predators; however, increased time spent alone on the Internet and more frequent access to Internet-enabled apps and games can raise the risk. It is essential that parents ensure their children and teenagers access age-appropriate platforms and that children are constantly supervised when playing online games or participating in online platforms (younger children especially). Furthermore, teenagers should not be left to their own devices (so to speak!). Talking to teens about their digital habits is essential to keeping them safe from online threats and manipulative strangers.
The risk of online grooming increases when a child does any of the following:
Here are our three top insights direct from our leading online safety experts.
01
Online predators rely on situations where they can engage in conversations with children when they are unsupervised. Aside from other issues such as the negative impact on sleep due to overstimulation and emitting blue light, devices in bedrooms can mean that your child’s online activities are taking place behind closed doors, potentially allowing a stranger private time with your child. Predators are sophisticated at manipulating unsuspecting children, especially when there is a lack of parental supervision and involvement.
Hot Tip – If your child likes gaming, keep headphone-use off the table for as long as possible. Parents need to hear what is being said, and, more importantly, who is speaking to their child!
02
Problems occur when a vulnerable child’s online relationships start to become stronger than those in their real world. Online predators actively prey on susceptible children or teens. They may encourage them to show reduced interest in their peers or family, manipulating them to become more connected with them instead. Be sure to keep home relationships strong and compassionate. While being open to the online world and its support, parents should know who their children are spending time with and why. It always pays to ensure that home is truly where their heart is.
03
One of the most significant risk areas – commonly overlooked by parents – is the presence of online or in-game chat, or public social media profiles that allow strangers to contact children directly. Even the most innocent-looking games like Minecraft can enable children to tap directly into a melting pot of online strangers, with intentions that may be less than honourable.
If you have younger children, it can be useful to discuss the following three rules of engagement regarding anyone they come into contact with online:
If they can’t answer YES to these three questions, they either need to work on answering them with their parent’s help or disengage completely.
If you'd like to safeguard your child against the risks of online predators through education, our online safety experts recommend you take the following steps:
Explaining that even adults are sometimes tricked into doing things they regret can help. It may be difficult, but it’s incredibly important for you to remain calm if your child is involved in an adverse incident online. It's crucial your child feels they can come to you for help without being punished or criticized, so do your best to minimize anger or judgment. This includes resisting the urge to immediately remove access to devices and platforms because of a mistake they have made, without first talking things through.
Make sure your child knows how to use the built-in privacy settings on social media platforms and games, and that they know how to restrict their online information.
Explain that they should not send photographs of themselves that clearly show their identity (including images of school or sports team uniforms). Help them understand and identify information that can be conveyed in images and videos without saying a word. It is also important to turn off location services and GPS tracking.
Ask them only to use their first name or a fictitious username to identify themselves in online chat and social media, and ensure they know never to disclose their smartphone number, address, or school.
Ask younger children not to speak to anyone they don’t know in real life and ensure they know not to post or text images or videos without your permission.
Refer to the three ‘golden rule’ questions for online engagement and ask your child if they can answer ‘yes’ to all three when you do a sample of their online friends. If they can’t, you need to be ready to have an open discussion about the rules, reasons, and consequences.
There are a multitude of places where children (and parents) can report suspicious or inappropriate online behaviour. It is incredibly important that you and your child take steps to report these types of behaviours, to help prevent harm from occurring not only to your child, but others who may be at risk. Just remember to screenshot and save the evidence as well! You should be aware that storing sexualised images of children (even if only as evidence) may be illegal, so ensure you seek appropriate legal counsel.
https://cybersafetyhub.ysafe.com.au/parent/reporting-incidents/social-media
How to report online safety issues.
https://cybersafetyhub.ysafe.com.au/parent/rules-agreements/online-safety-in-the-home
Our simple ABC model is a practical and effective way to create a safe online environment for your family.
https://cybersafetyhub.ysafe.com.au/parent/app-reviews
Age-appropriate app reviews and recommendations from the experts.