Anything you share with them keeps the conversation going it doesn't help end it. If you shut it down early, they're likely to give up. Takeaways: Online predators will often feel out a situation before asking for more information. We can just find something else to do instead! Since we don't know anything about them, it's safest not to share anything, even as a joke. I can tell them that it seems safe and funny when we're all together, but this person might try again when one of us is alone. That would only make the problem worse.įollow-up: What if your friends think it's funny to chat with them just as a prank? One chance for embarrassment is better than sending more pictures. I know I haven't shared anything too embarrassing, so that kind of threat wouldn't work.Įven if they had a picture I didn't mean for them to have, if I sent another one, the demands would never stop. Once someone has my phone number, they can call me anytime, anywhere, and it's also easier to get more info about me, so no way.įollow-up: What if they say they already have an embarrassing picture, and if you don't send more, they'll share that one with everyone? If I say yes once, it just opens the door to asking for more pics and more info. When anyone starts asking for pictures or personal information, it's a red flag, and I would always say no. Either way, this is someone I don't know, so I don't have to worry about being polite.įollow-up: What if they just want one picture, your Snapchat handle, or your phone number so you can text each other? I mean, they don't know where you live, right? How dangerous could that be? Some creepers ask for pictures and personal information right away, and others can seem nice at first. It's easy to find out things about people online and seem to know them, so that's no reason to chat. If they continued, I'd block them and report their user information and wouldn't respond anymore.įollow-up: But what if they seem harmless and nice? Or what if they seem to know things about you? ![]() If they were persistent, I'd type, "I don't want to talk to you. Feel free to run through this script verbatim or riff - whatever works for you!Īsk your teen: What should you do if someone you don't know contacts you online? ![]() Make sure to acknowledge that they might already have many of these skills, so this could be a chance to show them off. You can also frame it as something like a driving test: To use social media, they need to be able to operate it safely. To get the ball rolling, find five or 10 minutes when your kid is receptive (in other words, don't interrupt their favorite show and demand to talk), and tell them you want to teach them skills that are similar to being able to change a tire: They can get you out of a sticky situation. Here are some ideas for how to talk to kids about this tricky subject. And creepy people aren't always total strangers sometimes your kid knows them, but then things get weird - or scary. As parents we know this takes a lot of repetition, usually until our kids roll their eyes and say, "I KNOW!" Also, it can be complicated: Teens want to be liked and belong, so positive attention from someone can be really compelling. Ultimately, we need to help them find the right words to say (or type) in certain situations and recognize when they need to get help. But the most powerful tool is becoming a guiding voice in our kids' heads. We can start with safeguards such as avoiding apps that make contact with strangers easy (such as Kik and Tinder), keeping accounts private, and setting limits on where and when your teen can use a device (as in, not alone in their room at night). ![]() Instead, we need to arm them with information. We're not always going to be with our kids, and - as painful as it sometimes is - we can't control everything. Whether its unwanted sexual solicitation, a predator trying to make offline contact, or other inappropriate advances, it's important to make sure our kids know what to do if they ever encounter someone with bad intentions. But for many parents, it's the scariest thing about our kids' digital lives. We might not want to think about our kids dealing with creepy people online.
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