Start talking a training for keeping children safe online.

Technology is constantly changing and children change with it. New websites, apps, games, and gadgets offer new opportunities for exploiters to take advantage of minors.

Did you know in 2023 alone 36.2 million reports were made of a parent child sexual abuse material CSAM to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cyber Tipline.

The relationship between children and the internet is still evolving and as a society we’re continuing to learn how to navigate it. Like with any new development, there’s a learning curve. There are things we simply haven’t anticipated. However, after more than two decades, society has gained valuable insights and gathered important data. With this growing knowledge and experience, we’re now better equipped to make informed decisions to protect our children. Start Talking is about applying that knowledge and experience to help keep children safe online.

After you’ve completed the start talking training, you should be able to do the following. Discuss the impact of the internet and digital devices on children, especially as it relates to online sexual abuse and exploitation. Teach your child how to recognize and avoid online grooming and abuse. Talk with your child about online relationships and the apps they are using. Explain what a digital footprint is, who can follow it, and why it matters to you and your child. Recognize a fake online account and help your child do the same. Start and maintain an ongoing conversation with your child about online safety and create a safe environment for them to come to you for guidance.

The issue. Kids today are growing up with technology. They know their way around devices and the internet better than a lot of adults. So, why is online safety an issue?

You’re likely taking this training because you care about a child or teen. And you probably already know that a child or teen’s online and offline worlds are intertwined and that the internet is a daily and essential part of their life. You may or may not also be aware that there are risks every time someone opens a browser, starts a new chat, or downloads a new game.

The number of active mobile devices in the world was expected to reach 17.62 billion by 2024.

62% of survey respondents who said they had been sent sexually explicit material had received it on their mobile device.

Here are some more alarming statistics to illustrate the issue. One in three children are first exposed to social media at age 5 or younger. One in three children can now expect to have an unwelcome sexual experience online before they turn 18. The rate of online harm peaks when kids start using social media at ages 11 to 12. The majority of children, 87% were first exposed to social media before they were 13. 43% of kids exposed to inappropriate sexual content online were under 13. Kids with disabilities or special needs in LGBTQ plus kids are two to four times more likely to send explicit images of themselves than their peers.

Children ages 8 through 12 in the United States spend 4 to 6 hours a day on average watching or using screens. and teens spend up to 9 hours. All of this time online with a lack of education on how to be safe leaves them exposed.

While settings and content blockers can be helpful, they cannot ensure that children are completely protected online. The most effective prevention is an educated child. And the best tool for keeping children safe is open continuous conversation about online safety.

It’s up to parents and guardians to start this conversation. Did you know parents are not talking with their children enough about their digital activity? Throughout a child’s life, parents spend on average only 46 minutes talking about online safety.

Children and teens are not going to stop using the internet, but they can learn to be as safe as possible on the internet. Online safety is about educating children and teens to navigate the risks and know when to talk to someone they trust.

application activity. This activity is required to complete the training, but it is not graded. It is simply a tool to help you remember and be able to apply the things you’ve learned in this lesson. Please read the following scenario, then answer the questions.

Rosa is 5 years old and likes to play on her mom’s phone whenever she gets the chance. At 5 years old, Rosa enjoys coloring apps, dressup apps, and sometimes racing apps. Her parents, Dany and Gabriel, appreciate that these apps and games keep Rosa content while they unwind from work and get dinner ready. One evening, Dany comes home from work and tells Gabriel about an online safety training she had at work. And then she suggests they start talking to Rosa about online safety.

Gabriel protests that Rosa is only five and mostly just uses a coloring app. What on earth do they possibly need to keep her safe from? Who is right, Danny or Gabriel? Click on your answer. Click the review button if you need to review the scenario. Click the X in the upper right hand corner to exit the review.

Your answer, Danny. Correct. It’s never too early to start talking about online safety.

Gabriel counters that he always sets accounts to private and that’s enough to protect Rosa at her age. Five. Is Gabriel’s argument true or false? Click on your answer. Click your answer.

False. Correct. Gabriel doesn’t yet understand the risk and his argument is false. Private accounts are a good start, but they’re not enough to keep children safe online.

Gabriel also argues that when Rosa is ready to start talking about online safety, she’ll start asking questions. He feels Rosa’s questions will indicate when she is ready for these types of conversations and that they will dictate the timing. Is this true or false? Click your answer.

False. Correct. Gabriel is mistaken again. Conversations about online safety are not something that can be left to the child to initiate. It’s up to parents and guardians to start these conversations before the child is targeted by an online predator.

Danny shares with Gabriel the best tool for keeping children safe. What does she share? Content blockers and parental controls on all apps. Severely restricted screen time for Rosa. An educated child, which means continuous conversation about online safety with Rosa. No internet for Rosa until she’s more mature, at least 12 years old. Click the review button if you need to review the scenario. Click the X in the upper right hand corner to exit the review.

Your answer, an educated child. Correct. The best prevention is an educated child.

You’ve completed lesson one, the issue. Click next to continue to lesson two. What is online grooming?

What is online grooming? Grooming. Grooming is the process where an offender builds a relationship, trust, and emotional connection with a child or teen so they can manipulate, exploit, and abuse them.

Whatever issues a child may be experiencing, the offender will pretend to be going through the same thing or share specific knowledge about that issue. It may be body image issues, parents divorcing, recent death of a loved one or friend, or bullying. They look for victims who need someone or who are going through a difficult time. They pretend to be their friend and understand what they are going through. But the predators goal is to establish trust in order to manipulate and gain control over their victims. Former Internet Crimes Against Children investigator.

Preventing grooming can’t be done through a single conversation, by telling kids don’t, or by just restricting access to technology. Remember, grooming can look a lot like making a good friend. It might not be clear it’s happening for a long period of time, especially from a child’s perspective.

It’s important to know that a predator’s objective may be to meet your child face to face in order to exploit them. However, some predators keep the relationship only online. They use different tactics to convince the child to engage in a sexual act, whether that be sharing sexual images or engaging in sexual activity on a video call.

Child sex predators can be someone familiar or a complete stranger. They may identify as any gender. Predators often disguise their identity and age behind fake online profiles. They target any age, gender, and social or cultural background.

It may be difficult for children to understand that there are people using disguises online. An older man may pretend to be someone the child’s age or someone who goes to a nearby school. Even if a child knows they are communicating with an adult, the age gap may instill fear into the child to comply with a predator’s request.

Some predators start by enticing a child to share personal information and then later use it against the child to coers them into sexual activity. Grooming is a process that can take place over the course of just a few hours or several years. A groomer will create profiles on apps or games that children use in order to gain their trust and build a friendship. Conversation often starts through comments, direct messages, or chat rooms. If initial contact begins on a public platform or form, a predator will likely try to contact the child in a direct message. Next, part of the grooming process is isolating the child or teen in a private online space and then slowly working to manipulate or force them into engaging in a sexual act.

Can you apply it? This activity is required to complete the training, but it is not graded. It is simply a tool to help you remember and be able to apply the things you’ve learned in this lesson. Read the scenario, then answer the questions that follow.

Sam. 14-year-old Sam has recently come out to their parents, Jill and Mike, as non-binary, and their relationship has since been strained. Sam’s parents love them very much, but it’s clear that they don’t approve of Sam’s new identity or Sam’s request that they use their pronouns. Several of Sam’s friends have also become distant since finding out. Sam has been lonely as they’ve tried to navigate the non-binary world in a very conservative community and find new friends.

Sam’s parents notice that Sam isn’t happy, but they don’t know what to do. They try to express their love without condoning something they don’t understand or agree with, but it’s a fine line to navigate. Sam becomes more and more withdrawn, spends more time alone on their laptop, and everyone in the household is frustrated with the situation.

One afternoon, Jill retrieves a daily mail and notices a small package hand addressed to Sam. There’s no return name or address, but the postmark is from another state. When Sam comes home from school, Jill gives Sam the package and asks what it is. “How should I know?” Sam replies, shrugging as they take it and head for their bedroom.

Later, when Sam emerges for food, Jill asks Sam again about the package. It’s nothing, Sam replies. Who was it from? Jill presses. It’s just something from my friend, Sam answers. Which friend? Jill asks. Who do you know out of state? Jeez, it’s not a big deal. Why are you interrogating me? Sam storms.

Sam, Jill continues as calmly as she can, a little suspicious now. I’m not interrogating you. I’m just curious about your package. Why are you being so secretive about it? It’s just someone I met online. Sam shouts. Sometimes we talk and they sent me something. They actually like me. Is that all right?

Now Jill’s antenna are really up. It takes a prolonged discussion, some arguing, and eventually a threat to lose their devices before Sam gives into Jill’s demand to know exactly who sent the gift and what they sent.

Upon further investigation, Jill discovers that Sam’s friend is a man who had seen and responded to one of Sam’s social media posts, expressing their loneliness and their frustration with their parents. He soon moved the conversation to a private chat where they had several long and very personal conversations. He was very kind to Sam, very understanding and validating, a good listener, everything Sam needed.

No pictures had been exchanged, but Sam had shared their address and cell phone number a few days before the gift arrived, which turned out to be an expensive silver bracelet.

What did Sam’s friend use to initiate conversation with Sam? Click on your answer. Sam’s sexual identity, Sam’s pictures, Sam’s post about loneliness and frustration with her parents. To review the scenario, click the review button at the bottom of the screen. Click the X at the top right of the screen to exit the review.

Your answer, Sam’s sexual identity. While LGBTQ plus individuals are at high risk for trafficking, we don’t know that Sam initially disclosed this information online. We do know they expressed loneliness and frustration with their parents, which gave Sam’s friend an opening to be kind, understanding, validating, and whatever else Sam needed.

Since Sam’s friend hasn’t asked for any sexual acts or photos, it’s not likely that he’s a predator. True or false? To review the scenario, click the review button at the bottom of the screen. Click the X at the top right of the screen to exit the review.

Your answer, false. Correct. Grooming can take hours, days, weeks, months, or even years. There are enough red flags to warrant concern about him being a predator.

You’ve completed lesson two. What is online grooming? Click next to continue to lesson three, online relationships.

Online relationships. Online relationships. If a child or teen feels lonely at home or at school, they often turn to social media or games to connect with others or disconnect from their pain.

Here are some numbers that may surprise you. 54% of minors believe online grooming is a common experience for kids their age. One in three minors consider a connection they made online among their closest friends. Two in three 9 to 12y olds interact with unfamiliar adults online. And one in six 9 to 12year-olds have had romantic or sexual conversations with an online only contact.

Again, while settings and content blockers can be helpful, they can’t ensure that children are completely protected online. The best tool for keeping children safe is open continuous conversation about online safety. The most effective prevention is an educated child.

Popular apps. The majority of teens use YouTube, Tik Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat. Teen use of Facebook has dropped sharply since 2014 and 2015. Teen girls are more likely than boys to use Tik Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat. Teen boys are more likely to use Twitch, Reddit, and YouTube.

Messaging. Popular messaging apps are Discord, Signal, Google Hangouts, Group Me, WhatsApp, Kick, Viber, and WeChat. Child predators often try to take online conversations with minors to a private messaging app to avoid public suspicion that makes it easier for the predators to ask for explicit pictures. These apps have also been used to buy, share, and trade images of child sexual abuse material. See Sam SAM.

Dating. Popular dating apps include Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Yubo, Casual, Chat and Date, Spot a Friend, and Grinder. While dating apps should be restricted to 18 or older, some are labeled as 17 or older or don’t have minimum age verifications. This means teens can easily join the app by lying about their age. A teen seeking connection can sign up, start messaging adults, and develop unsafe or inappropriate relationships with them. Some apps are even made for meeting in person for sexual experiences, putting teens in immediately dangerous situations. Even when these interactions remain online, private messaging and photo functions open doors for exploitation and enticement.

Secret photo vaults and browsers. Multiple applications and websites allow users to hide their pictures and messages. These features are accessible to any user regardless of age and allow kids and teens to hide inappropriate messages and chats from concerned parents or friends. While children sometimes do this out of a desire for independence and privacy, predators take advantage of these features to keep their exploitation a secret.

These vaults are on photo apps where users can make photos hidden so they are only accessible via passcode. Apps such as the fake calculator allow users to disguise the application itself, making it easy to hide sexually explicit photos right on their home screen. These apps encrypt messages and can even automatically delete messages, making it difficult to track a child’s incoming and outgoing messages. Kids can erase search and website history on private browsers, making it easy to hide online activity and communication.

Popular apps and risks. If your child has it, you should have it. That simple principle can go a long way in protecting your children. If you don’t know a lot about a certain gamer app, download it on your phone and look through the different features. Assume that all apps have messaging capabilities. This will help you better understand potential opportunities for predators to contact your child.

Application activity. This activity is required to complete the training, but it is not graded. It is simply a tool to help you remember and be able to apply the things you’ve learned in this lesson. Read the scenario and answer the following questions.

Carlo has just learned about online safety and is determined to make sure his 16-year-old daughter, Anna, who seems addicted to her phone, is safe. What is the best first step Carlo can take? Click on your answer. Take Anna’s phone and make sure all the settings are set to private. Create a safe and open environment to start having regular ongoing conversations with Anna about online safety. Enforce strict limits on how much time Anna can spend online. Require Anna to turn in her phone to him by 9:00 p.m. every night. To review the scenario, click the review button at the bottom of the screen. Click the X in the upper right hand corner to exit the review.

Your answer: Create a safe and open environment to start having regular ongoing conversations with Anna about online safety. Correct. Online safety is about teaching children how to navigate risks, who they can trust, and who they can come to for guidance.

What is the best way for Carlo to know the risk potential of the apps on Anna’s phone? Do lots of online research. Talk to other parents. Ask Anna to show him how they work. install them on his own device and explore the features until he understands the privacy features and potential risks. To review the scenario, click the review button at the bottom of the screen. Click the X in the upper right hand corner to exit the review.

Your answer, install them on his own device and explore the features until he understands the privacy features and potential risks. Correct. If your child has it, you should have it.

You’ve completed lesson three, online relationships and apps. Click next to continue to lesson four, your digital footprint. your digital footprint.

The nature of some social platforms and apps is to make it as easy as possible to share private information or locations. It is important that children and teens understand what is safe to share and what should be kept private. There is an elevated risk on more visual based apps for children and teens to broadcast home locations and clues to places they frequently hang out.

If this information is public, predators can start understanding what vulnerabilities a child has and what they enjoy doing, making it easier to make a connection with them over a chat or direct message. On some apps, users can post stories that will only appear for 24 hours. Remind your children and teens that even those stories may seem temporary, other users can screenshot anything they post.

Anything you post publicly online becomes a part of your digital footprint. Online predators may search for more information about their target. So, it is important to turn on privacy settings to keep your child protected.

Here are some tips to manage a digital footprint. Use privacy settings to safeguard your personal photos and videos. Remove any content that may misrepresent you. Delete old accounts, especially public accounts. Look through what others have shared about you. Determine what you are comfortable with others sharing about you online. Ask others for permission before sharing their photo publicly. Avoid posting photos that show your address or typical schedule.

Posting innocent images. Your digital footprint includes any information shared online by you or about you. The comments you post, videos you share, and photos you are tagged in are part of a public data pool. Even if you delete a photo, it may still exist on the app’s server or as a screenshot on someone else’s computer.

Child sexual abuse material. C SAM contains many different media categories. Those graphic images of child sexual abuse are what we most commonly see or hear about in the media. Sex offenders photographing or recording the sexual abuse of their victims and then sharing and distributing that content can be found in the news headlines almost daily.

When it comes to CSAM, online predators are not only using the internet to find child victims to groom, manipulate, and eventually exploit and abuse. Offenders are just as actively searching for and downloading innocent images of children from public social media profiles belonging to unknowing parents and grandparents.

Imagery might include nude or partially nude images of extremely young children innocently playing together, modeling photo shoots, in sporting events, or dancing. These are often found bundled together on peer-to-peer filesharing networks and on the dark web and marketed as child erotica or nudism. This content can be just as sought after as graphic sexually explicit content, sometimes even more, as it may not always be classified as illegal content.

So before you upload and post, make sure you know your audience, understand your privacy settings, and have thoroughly reviewed the content.

I have interviewed hundreds of offenders and have seen firsthand the destruction caused by these types of predators. Their ability to identify, manipulate, and control victims is powerful. The last thing that we as parents need to do is allow offenders unrestricted access to our social media profiles. Former Internet Crimes Against Children investigator.

Can you apply it? This activity is required to complete the training, but it is not graded. It is simply a tool to help you remember and be able to apply the things you’ve learned in this lesson.

Cecilia and Carl have two young children, Cad and Cody, four, and do lots of fun family activities together. The beach, splash pads, family bike rides, water parks, amusement parks, picnics, hiking. They want to create lots of childhood memories for their children. Cecilia and Carl are grateful for the internet, which allows them to share pictures through social media with the children’s grandparents, all of whom live out of state. The grandparents love the pictures and enjoy making comments on them and sometimes downloading them to print.

True or false? As long as the children are always fully clothed in photos shared online, privacy settings shouldn’t matter. Click on your answer. Click review scenario if you want to reread it. Click on your answer.

False. Correct. Sadly, there’s a dark market for closed children as well. Privacy settings matter. Know your audience.

True or false? One set of grandparents never post anything on their own account. They just comment on the pictures Cecilia and Carl post. And when they visit, they are sometimes tagged in pictures with the family. Because they don’t post anything of their own, they don’t have a digital footprint. Click review scenario if you want to reread it. Click on the X in the upper right hand corner to exit the review.

Your answer, false. Correct. The comments they make and photos they’re tagged in are part of their digital footprint.

You’ve completed lesson four, your digital footprint. Click next to continue to lesson five. Identify a fake account. Identify a fake account.

Did you know the FBI estimates between 500,000 and 750,000 predators are online on a given day? Social media was designed for social interaction, but unfortunately it has become a playground for bad actors who are looking to take advantage of the vulnerable.

Here are four steps you can take when looking into who your child is interacting with online or to consider before letting your child have access to social media. These steps come from an individual who specializes in identifying internet crimes against children.

Friends check. Make sure the profile has a normal number of friends or followers. Profiles with under 100 friends are highly suspicious, especially if the account allegedly belongs to a teen. Checking for friends is an essential step, but won’t always ensure the account is safe. Some accounts receive followers by impersonating celebrities or other influencers. Make sure to check the other factors provided here before following or subscribing.

Fake Tik Tok profile example. Fake Tik Tok accounts may impersonate Tik Tok users with large followings. They reach out to smaller accounts with the offer to increase their likes and followers. These fake accounts often ask for payment in exchange for a shout out to help users increase their following. But once these scammers receive payment, the fake accounts disappear or they block the users that paid them.

Photo check. Profiles without a profile photo are almost always spam or fake accounts. Profiles with no or only a few posted photos of themselves in social situations should raise your alarm.

Reverse image check. If a profile has only a few photos or you feel as though the account may be suspicious or fake, a quick reverse image search of some of the photos may be useful. Here’s how. Download or save the published photos. Navigate to www.google.com. google.com/im imgp. This is Google’s image search. Drag the photos into the Google search bar or click the browse button and navigate to the save photo. Within seconds, Google will return results if that photo is found elsewhere on the internet. If the photo is visible on other accounts using a different name or appears to be from a commercial website, the profile is most likely a fake account.

Username check. Profile names and account usernames can be different. Users can display a name on their profile different from their actual account username. Once an account’s unique username is identified, a quick Google search of that username may lead you to other social media accounts or to comments or complaints related to suspicious activity. When searching usernames on Google, be sure to place the username within quotes username.1123 or at username.1123 depending on the social media network. If the username search reveals other profiles with different photos of different people, then it’s likely a fake account.

Application activity. This activity is required to complete the training, but it is not graded. It is simply a tool to help you remember and be able to apply the things you’ve learned in this lesson.

Cedric and Saurin. Cedric and his 12-year-old son, Saurin, recently created a social media account for Saurin. Cedric wants to be sure Saurin knows how to be safe online before turning him loose on the platform. He’s been careful to set up content blockers and strict privacy settings to protect Saurin.

While they are exploring the platform together, a follow request from one of Saurin’s school friends, Jake, pops up. Saurin is about to accept it, but Cedric sees this as the perfect opportunity to teach him some more safety precautions.

Jake’s profile does have a picture. It might be a couple years old, but SA can tell it’s Jake. There are also other pictures of Jake, mostly of him playing sports and one with his family. Does Jake’s profile pass the picture test? Click on your answer. Click review scenario if you want to reread it. Click on the X in the upper right hand corner to exit the review.

your answer. Yes, correct. The sports pictures and family picture are good signs the account is legit.

Cedric shows Saurin how to compare the profile name to the username. The profile name is Jake Samson, while his account username is Jakester 797. They go to Google and search Jakester 797. Google returns a couple of other social media accounts with Jake’s name and picture. Does Jake’s profile pass the username check? Click yes or no. Click review scenario if you want to reread it. Click on the X at the upper right hand corner to exit the review.

Your answer, no. Incorrect. The username search on Google did bring back Jake’s name and picture, so it passed.

Cedric shows Saurin how to check Jake’s other friends or followers on his account. They discover lots of the same kids Saurin knows from school as well as Jake’s mom and dad. Does Jake’s profile pass the friends test? Yes or no? Click review scenario if you want to reread it. Click on the X in the upper right hand corner to exit the review.

Your answer, yes. Correct. Several friends in common plus Jake’s parents are good signs that Jake’s account is legit.

You’ve completed lesson five. Identify a fake account. Click next to continue to conversation starters for online safety.

Conversation starters for online safety.

It’s never too late to begin a conversation with your children. A child is unlikely to recognize if they are being groomed. If someone has threatened or manipulated them online, they might be less likely to speak to an adult about what is going on. Creating an environment of honesty and no judgment can help your child feel comfortable bringing their concerns to you.

Consider opening the conversation by asking some questions to gauge their level of understanding. Examples: What are some of your favorite apps or games? Has anyone made you feel unsafe or uncomfortable online? Do you know what online grooming is? Let them ask you questions, too. Listen to their answers and experiences without interruption. It’s important to show that you are also listening to them and value what they’re telling you.

Ask open-ended questions that don’t require a yes or no answer. This gives them the opportunity to tell you what they think.

Here are some examples of open-ended questions. What’s the difference between people we only know online and people we know offline? Has anyone asked you to keep your relationship a secret or made you feel like some things needed to be kept a secret? Do you know where the report and block buttons are on different apps? Who can you go to for help if something worries or upsets you online?

Consider these tips on how to navigate these conversations. Start small. Conversations based on fear may send the wrong message to your child. Start with having small conversations often about the topic of online safety to help them feel safe talking to you about the subject. Ask questions about what they learn in school about online safety or what rules their friends have and how they differ.

Explore together. Be curious. Sit down with your child to explore different apps and websites together. Ask them to show you which apps they spend the most time on, what they like about the apps, and if anything ever makes them feel uncomfortable. Exploring together can foster natural discussion or teaching opportunities.

Empower them with tools. Empower your children with tools to feel safe navigating the internet. It is likely that they spend time alone navigating different apps and websites. So, it is important that they have an action plan for different situations they may come across. Talk about what personal details are inappropriate to share with people they don’t know. Show them the block buttons and exit buttons on their favorite apps and let them know that they can always come to you for help.

Teach them how to react if someone new messages them online or sends them a friend request. Walk through possible scenarios.

Not everyone is who you think they are. It is easy for predators to create accounts that disguise their real identity. Help your child understand what to look out for. Here are some questions to guide discussion. Do you have mutual friends with this person? Do any of your friends know them in real life? How many followers does this person have? Does it seem realistic that this is a real person? Are there any inappropriate pictures on this person’s account? Do you share the same interest as this person? Does that mean they are safe?

Establish age appropriate guidelines. After taking this training, determine the best guidelines and rules to implement for your children. It is important to establish clear boundaries and rules while also keeping open communication so that your child feels free to safely explore and play.

If your child wants an app, download it on your phone first and look for chat features, safety features, and how to turn off locations and other features that may publicize personal information. Although there are several safety features on most electronic devices, the best education is an educated child.

Can you apply it? This activity is required to complete the training, but it is not graded. It is simply a tool to help you remember and be able to apply the things you’ve learned in this lesson.

Stacy. Jaime, and Lynn are in the car on their way to their twice weekly morning pickle ball. Once their kids are off to school, they meet several other women for some friendly games. It keeps them sane, they say.

Jaime glances over at Lynn and announces, “I think we’re banning devices at our house.” “What?” Lynn replies, “Why?” Turns out some creep was basically stalking Stacy on social media asking for nude pics talking about sex.

Oh my gosh, Linux claims. What the? I know, Jaime continues. It was seriously creepy. Was it someone Stacy knows? Nope. A complete stranger. He claimed his name is Zach and that he’s 15, Stacy’s age, but who really knows? Could be anyone.

Wow, what did you do? How’s Stacy? She was pretty shaken up. She came to us crying, saying how sorry she was over and over. I think she just never saw it going there. He looked cute in his pictures and said all the right things until he didn’t. Honestly, I probably would have fallen for it, too, at her age. I’m just glad she came to us.

It was so hard not to say, “How did you let this happen?” After all the talks we’ve had about online safety. I still can’t believe it happened. We managed to maintain our cool and reassure her it wasn’t her fault. I mean, she felt bad enough as it was, but it was tough.

She didn’t actually send pics, did she? Lynn queried. No, thank goodness. That’s when it finally hit home to her that this guy was not who he appeared to be. Hopefully, this makes all our talks about online safety real to her and she’ll be more careful now. But wow, too close.

So, you’re not really banning devices then? Well, I’d like to, but it’s pretty unrealistic. We need to just keep talking and hope she and the other kids all learn from this. I was pretty freaked out last night. So was Dan, and we kind of still are. But we’re grateful it didn’t go any farther. We’re still trying to figure out if there’s something else we should be doing to protect the kids.

Well, I think you handled it really well. I don’t think I would have done so well. Thanks. Here we are, Jaime announces as they pull into a parking space at the courts. I think I’ll write Zach on the ball and beat the heck out of it. Good idea. I’ll help you. Don’t mess with Mama Bear.

Jaime and Dan failed at teaching Stacy how to be safe online. True or false? Click review scenario if you want to reread it. Click on the X in the upper right hand corner to exit the review.

Your answer, true, incorrect. Even the best trained children still make mistakes. There are some big wins in this scenario. Do you know what they are?

Which of the following should Jaime and Dan do going forward? Continue to have open, honest discussions about online safety with their kids. spend time exploring apps with their kids and take advantage of your answer. All of the above.

Correct. Spending time with their kids exploring apps and taking advantage of teaching opportunities, practicing potential online scenarios with them, and of course, continuing conversations about online safety are all great strategies for keeping their children safe online.

Congratulations, you’ve completed lesson six. Conversation starters and tips, as well as the start talking training.