Internet dangers and strangers

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

By: Matt Cota

Parents and kids learned more about Internet safety at a town hall meeting in Santa Barbara on Wednesday night.

The meeting's goal was to teach parents how to keep their children safe as they face dangers online.

Whether talking with others in chat rooms, or posting their pictures on the popular website myspace.com, teens today are finding new ways to find each other online. But so are sexual predators.

While kids are computer savvy, parents often do not know what their children are up to online.

"I have had third graders tell me that they have hundreds of pictures of themselves on myspace, and yet their parents don't even know that they have a myspace account," says CALM Parent Education Coordinator Ann Bryant.

She calls online sexual exploitation one of the most prevalent forms of child abuse in our society, but also one of the most preventable.

And that does not necessarily mean unplugging the computer. A little education and awareness can help kids become more aware of online strangers and dangers.

KSBY will air a special investigative series about sexual predators on NBC'S Dateline. It's called "To catch a predator," and airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

http://www.ksby.com/home/headlines/2700331.html

Worrysome Headlines

If you are certain that your child is safe, you can relax. For many parents, however, these headlines have become a horrifying reality:

This list of headlines could go on forever, but your child's innocence cannot. Spend time in your child's world.