- Image by bionicteaching via Flickr
The Women’s Center of Beaver County is committed to promoting safety and independence with the goal to reduce and eliminate the causes and effects of abuse. We strive to educate the public to provide shelter, counseling, support, advocacy, and education to victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Parents, now, have to add another topic of discussion with their children: safety while on the internet. The social networking site MySpace removed 90,000 sex offenders from their site. The sex offenders that were removed from internet social networks used their real names. The scary thought is how many predators us fictitious names and profiles.
The best way to protect your children is to GET INVOLVED. Sit down with them and view their on-line profile together. It’s important to discuss how your children present themselves through photographs and words. Many teens discuss risky behaviors like substance abuse, sexual behavior and violence. This information is permanent and they may not realize the potential consequences. These can have a serious impact on their lives offline. Remind them that they don’t know who’s on the other end of the computer screen.
Children should only correspond with people that they know. Parents need to ask questions, set some rules and stick to them, even at the risk of your child getting angry. Just because you may not have a computer, doesn’t mean your child isn’t on one at their friend’s house, at school or at the library. Parenting in the virtual world doesn’t have to be different either, though; you may need some computer skills.
Here are some additional resources on this very important subject:
