Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / What Parents Need to Know About "Online Grooming"

Transcript

What Parents Need to Know About "Online Grooming" · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another episode of 5-Minute Parenting.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Today's topic is not an easy one, but parents need to know what's happening in the world and how to keep their children safe.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Our topic is what parents need to know about online grooming.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Having just seen the movie Sound of Freedom, the whole topic of child trafficking has been on my mind.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: While I knew this was happening, often we can be cognizant of something happening in the world, but not really have it on our mind.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: This movie has brought it to the forefront of my mind, not only to pray more about it, but also to educate parents about what is happening.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: As the statistics at the end of the movie point out, the United States is ranked as one of the worst countries globally for human trafficking.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's difficult really to imagine, but it's true.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: As Christian parents, we don't want to live in fear, but we want to pray for our children's protection daily and to be aware of what's happening in our culture that could harm them.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm going to address just one aspect of human trafficking, online grooming, because most of our kids, starting at a younger and younger age, are online daily, connecting with social media, online games, etc.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: According to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, about 750,000 sexual predators worldwide are online at any given moment, often grooming children for sexual abuse as the first step to enslaving them.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So just what is online grooming?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: According to Thorne Research, it's a term used broadly to describe tactics abusers deploy through the Internet to sexually exploit children.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: It can happen quickly or over time, but at its core it's a process of exploiting trust to shift expectations of what safe behavior is and leveraging fear and shame to keep a child silent.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Grooming may include getting them to do things that seem innocent at first, like during certain dance moves or gymnastic routines, which can lead to them being asked to take nude pictures of themselves.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: In a recent report about grooming, Thorne research discovered that 40%, that's nearly half, of all kids online, have been approached by someone who they thought was attempting to befriend or manipulate them.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is crucial to know because one in three young people also said that the friends they make online are among their closest confidants.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Here are the stages of grooming as outlined by Thorne Research.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: One, targeting the child.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: A groomer targets children by creating false profiles on the internet, often pretending to be a child in the same age group as your child and initiating contact online.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: 2.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Gaining access.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: The groomer establishes trust with the child by making them feel special, sometimes through gifts or excessive compliments and attention.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: 3.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Developing trust.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: The groomer becomes a consistent presence in the child's life and establishes the appearance of a friendly or even romantic relationship.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: The groomer seeks to blur the lines between normal and abnormal relationships.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: 4.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Desensitizing to sexual content.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: When a certain level of trust has been established, the groomer starts to desensitize the child by exposing them to sexual content for sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: 5.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Maintaining control.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Groomers often use secrecy and feelings of shame to maintain control over the child.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: In some cases, groomers might utilize self-generated intimate contact to exhort, extort children into prolonging the abusive relationship.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: As parents, we need to start teaching our children about safety online as soon as they begin to use the internet, and that's at a younger and younger age.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: To understand how grooming happens online, it's important to remember that young people have a basic need for validation, attention, affection, and love.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: We need to make sure we are giving them that at home.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: We also need to have conversations with our children about online safety and how they might be approached by someone online that is not safe.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: We need to encourage them that they can always come to talk about anything that has happened online that they feel uncomfortable about, even if they have gotten deeply involved.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: You might start a conversation with your child about the topic by asking them questions.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: 1.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Has anyone talked, tried to talk to you while you were playing games online?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: 2.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Have you seen people chatting in any of your games?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: 3.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever messaged with someone online that you don't know in person?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: 4.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Have you shared information about yourself with someone you met online?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Discuss the fact that they might be talking with someone online without really knowing who they are.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone can create a fake account online and pretend to be someone they are not.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Even pretend to be your age and want to be your friend.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: You might not even realize that they are who they say they are for a long time.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's really important not to share your personal information or pictures with someone you don't know.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And don't let them share pictures with you or themselves.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can come to us anytime you believe this has happened to you.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Building a foundation of trust where your child feels safe at all times can build the safety net kids need to be able to come to you when something scary happens.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: All information regarding possible child exploitation that you might discover should be reported to the platform where it was found, as well as to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.