I recently learned that there are nearly 750,000 online pedophiles and previous sex offenders. This does not take into consideration the one’s who have not been caught yet or who are not properly reporting themselves.
Parents, you need to be thouroughly checking your children and their social networks. Please do not assume that because your child is generally a good child that they are suseptable to being preyed upon, they are. You need to learn texting code and check their cell phone, facebook pages, you tube, my space and any other social networking site.
These predators do not wear signs that show their true identity, they are sneaky and very clever and you need to use the “An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure” approach instead of having your entire world rocked when it eventually happens to you.
I have seen two cases where this has happened, the first was really bad, the second not as bad, but could have had the same consequences as the first.
What you do not realize about online predators is their ability to find you where ever you are at anywhere in the world.
Your computer sends out an “I.P.” (Internet Protocal) address, this address is just like your address on your house. Many of these online predators have the ability to look up your information which is tied to this address. Once they have it, they have everything they need to know about you, address, telephone number, email address, etc. If they are really connected, they now know where you work, the kind of car you are driving, names of all of the family members and even social security numbers and bank account information.
You may think of it as an invasion, you children may as well. However, you need to look at it with a different approach. One, you children are much more technology savvy then you are, in fact they are light years ahead of you. It is vitally important that you check the information they are receiving and who they are connected to. Not to mention the fact that it is our responsibility to protect our children and as a parent, I would not want to be playing the shoulda, coulda, woulda game after an attack happens.
In the first incident, one of our students thought she was talking with a boy her own age, come to find out she was talking with a 35 year old man. Once the conversation got scary she tried to cut it off, the next day he showed up at her door. She had never given out personal information, he retrieved it from her I.P. address.
The second incident was very similar, the only difference were plans were made to meet one night with the female student sneaking out of the house. Luckily, her parents were noticing some odd behavior and decided to check her email and social network accounts. They stopped the rendevous and later learned this boy wasn’t 17, he was 37 and from out of state.
It amazes me that with all of the technology, we are still having issues protecting our children. Parents, you need to get involved in what your children are doing.
Last week, I wrote about a 9 year old girl who was abuducted on the way to her bus stop. What I have since learned since writing the last post is that this man has 2 previous cases of child abduction convictions. The first was in 1991, while stationed in the military in Korea, the second was 4 years ago while living in Ohio.
He left the state of Ohio, did not let them know he was leaving, did not register here in Texas when he arrived and now a 9 year old child’s life has been changed forever.
As a society we need to educate our children of the dangers they potentially face. All children need to be taught self-defense strategies that will keep them safe.
If you do not want to enroll them in my Martial Arts school, enroll them somewhere. Get them off the couch, work on building their confidence and prevent them from being an easy target.
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