Watch Out For The Sexual Predator!
A Definition of a PREDATOR (Answers.com)
1. An organism that lives by preying on other organisms.
2. One that victimizes, plunders, or destroys, especially for one’s own gain.
Probably the scariest danger of the Internet is that with all the prevalent sexual material comes the sexual predator. The predator is a slick and wily character cloaked in sheep clothing and lurking in common child-populated areas of the Net. Not long ago we saw commercials and TV shows about the predator hanging out at the playground. Well, now they don’t have to leave the privacy of their own homes. They can prey at any number of online playgrounds without the fear of exposure.
Children are curious by nature and easily swayed. This innocence that we so love about them is the door that predators use to gain entry and eventual trust. Predators will spend time developing a relationship in order to try to convince children that they are a safe friend. If children are longing friendship or are being neglected in some form, then predators have a much easier time manipulating them.
There are two categories of children who are most susceptible to developing unhealthy and potentially dangerous online relationships. The first are those children who experience high parent-child conflict at home. The second are children who are detached and experience little or low parental communication.
The cold hard facts are that the predator is not what we commonly believe him to be. He is usually not an older, disfigured man. He is usually not living in squalor. Most of the time he is in his late teens or mid-to-early twenties. Two shocking revelations are that most of the time they are known to you, and a third of the time they are women.
You can get “How to Keep Your Child Safe on the Internet” a free mini-course, here: http://www.childsafesolutions.com
Download my free ebook detailing the 4 top dangers your children face while online: http://www.childsafesolutions.com/pdf/special_report.pdf