Media Safety: Guidelines for Internet Use (continued)

Teach Your Children About the Dangers

When your children begin to use the Internet independently, especially chat rooms and email, they will need to understand the following:

• Online information is not private. Others can get access to any information shared online.
• People they meet online may not be who they say they are.
• What they learn online may or may not be true. They need to ask for your help in deciding whether a Web site is to be trusted.
• Computer sex offenders deliberately pose as children or teens. They seek to earn children's trust by showing interest and listening to their problems.
• Many Internet sites host pornographic materials. Children may come across these sites by accident. And since it is easy to gain access to these sites, they are also easy to find.

Warning signs that a child may have been exposed to a computer sex-offender or inappropriate online activity:

• Spends long periods of time online in the evenings.
• Has or hides pornography or suspicious sexual material on the computer.
• Receives phone calls from people you don't know, or makes calls to numbers you don't recognize.
• Frequently turns off the monitor or changes screens when you come in the room.
• Uses someone else's account.
• Withdraws from family life and interactions.

As with warning signs for sexual abuse, these behaviors don't necessarily mean that your child is in contact with an offender, but they are signs that you need to investigate and more closely monitor your child's online activity. If your child becomes a victim of online sexual abuse, it is important to remember that just as with other forms of sexual abuse, it is not his or her fault.