by Dawn Hawkins

Created on: March 10, 2009   Last Updated: August 22, 2010

It is much easier for a sexual predator to grab hold of our children now as compared to ten years ago. They simply get online and pretend to be someone they aren't in order to convince our children they are a safe person to talk to. What your child may not know is that this person might not be the age they are telling them. They may not even be using the correct name. Your child won't know that this person is gathering personal information about them.

There are ways to protect your child from online sexual predators. Here are some suggestions to help make your child's online experience a good one that stays that way:

1. Awareness- The best way to prevent bad things from happening is to be aware of the dangers before it happens. Find out how predators work. They usually have a mode of action that they take in order to get to your child. If you research these methods, you can cut down the chances of this happening to your children.

2. Private Profiles- Make sure that you children's sites, such as Myspace, have their profiles set to private. Also make sure the settings are so that no one can message them or comment to them unless they are a friend. This makes it nearly impossible for a predator to come into contact with your child.

3. Parental Involvement- You should know what your child is doing at all times on the internet. Children need guidance. Do not feel backwards about logging their conversations and everything else they do. Children will do things that they aren't allowed to do when you aren't looking. It's their nature. Keep the computer in an open room where your child is less likely to do things on the internet they aren't supposed to do. Kids do not need to have a computer in their room.

4. Reporting- If you find anything suspicious going on, report it to the website and to the local authorities. If someone is trying to contact your child and they have a record, this could bring it to light. Reporting such issues to the website will allow the website to delete that person from their membership. Reporting it to local officials might uncover an ongoing problem and prevent anything like that happening to another child as well.

5. Know Where Your Children Are- Children are very vulnerable to other people. They are nave to the issue of sexual predators. It is important to make sure your children keep in constant contact with you. If they have found someone they think is their friend they are more likely to go meet this person in real life. This is very

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