Sadly, unlike the outdoors, online safety is often underestimated by parents. Mothers are often afraid to let their young children go out alone in unsupervised areas, but they are less concerned if their children spend hours a day online doing things they don\’t know how to do. But there are dangers in both.
This situation arises primarily from the fact that while the dangers of children lurking outdoors are easy to imagine and name, the dangers of the Internet are not so easy. After all, the child is sitting safely at home, so nothing can happen, right? Unfortunately, the truth lies somewhere a little different.
Because young children do not have the sense to understand that not everyone is as they claim. So the boy around her age who is texting her may be an older woman after all. And she may not have good intentions.
The problem is that the danger does not appear immediately, but becomes apparent later. The biggest one is that a child may disclose his or her personal information, e.g., not only his or her name, but also where he or she goes to school, when he or she has classes, where he or she lives, and so on. Eventually, this can lead to kidnapping, for example, or even to the house being burglarized if the child writes that the whole family is going on vacation at that time.
Also, strangers might request the parents\’ credit card information.
So what can be done? It is important to discuss these issues with the children. They need to be made aware of the importance of caution in this case. It is also a good idea to check exactly what children are doing on the Internet and with whom they are talking. For example, there is nothing wrong with asking a classmate about homework on the Internet. But writing to a complete stranger is another matter. And you should definitely keep that in mind.