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Online Dangers: Keep Kids Safe
My friend Linda Tomczak has worked on the front lines of fighting human trafficking for years. She acknowledges that good parents, grandparents, teachers, and others having close contact with kids are movitated to keep them safe from predators. But we must remain vigilant. Here’s why: • Every 9 minutes, government authorities respond to another report of child sexual abuse. • Of aggressive sexual solicitations of youth (when the solicitor attempted to establish an offline contact via in-person meeting or phone call), 73% of youth met the solicitor online. • Only 1 in 3 victims will report sexual crimes to a trusted adult (source: International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children)…
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Keeping Preschoolers Safe Online
Several years back, I observed a 4-year-old playing on his parents’ computer during our adult small group time. He couldn’t read yet, but he entered website addresses into the URL and surfed the net. I begin to realize we live in a generation where we need safeguards in place on the internet even for preschoolers. After having my own kids, this has become even more apparent. There are few things that capture their attention quite like computers, cell phones, or tablets. Here are a few suggested safeguards for preschoolers: Put passwords on all your electronic devices. Have separate user log-ins for your computer—Set up a separate user name and password…
