Chat rooms or games that allow “chatting” (electronic communication) between participants can be dangerous for children. Often times, sexual offenders will pose as children and so they can initiate a relationship with a child on-line and they go where your children go. In some cases, they first build a trusted relationship with a child and then tell them they are older but to keep it a secret from their parents. In other cases, sexual offenders continue to pose as a child and try to meet the child in a specific location. When the child learns of the offender’s true identity…it may be too late. Some Chat rooms are even more problematic because they not only provide a place for bad people to communicate with your child; they can also provide concealment from others by allowing private conversations and alerting offenders when others enter the same chat room.
Tell your Children that people online may not be who they say they are. Someone who says that “she” is a 12 year old girl could be a man.