Keep Your Eyes Open

Keep Your Eyes Open

In May, a Ft. Worth man was arrested and faced charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault of a child. The girl managed to get away and seek help from a couple of Kentucky Fried Chicken employees. The girl met her kidnapper, 24-year-old Diamond Marquis Williams, on Snapchat. This is the third recent arrest in the North Texas area involving the Snapchat app and allegations of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

The Snapchat app allows the user to take a photo or video. You make the photo or video available for a specific amount of time. After that time limit is up, the photo or video automatically disappears. Users can even share their location with other users and people they don’t know. This can be a scary app for parents. Kids can receive or send inappropriate photos. It popular with kids because they feel they can send immoral photos without consequences because the image will disappear. What they don’t realize is that nothing sent over the internet disappears.

‘Strangers/bad guys’ aren’t offering free candy or puppies out of a van anymore. Predators are finding other ways to reach our children through hundreds of apps. The internet allows for not only easy but anonymous access to children and teens. These apps aren’t just used by predators or pedophiles but are tools used for bullying by other teens.

New apps are being created every day. As parents, it’s important for us to keep up with these apps and talk with our children about the dangers of downloading and using these apps. It is also just as important to monitor your child's phone and other electronic devices. KLTY has a list of apps that parents should keep an eye on and why they are dangerous.

What to Do

Not all hope is lost. There are ways to educate and keep your children safe from unwanted contact with strangers and cyberbullying. A talk with your child may be uncomfortable, but their safety is more important than their privacy. You will need to be open with your children and teens, of course in an age-appropriate manner. You might want to set a time and age limits on their devices. In a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, close to 40% of teens have lied about their age when gaining access to a site or to create an account. The smart move is to restrict kids' access to any app by age rating.

Kids can be sneaky and as hard as we may try, we can’t join every app or site our kids come across. Do your research before allowing your kid to download any app and set rules and limitations is a good start. Luckily there are several apps and literature to help you best approach talking with your kids. Cyberbullying.org is a great site to get started in talking with your kids and has useful resources to help.

It’s What’s Best

As parents, we are their protectors here on earth and we should do everything we can to keep our children innocent. It is hard and there are many temptations we can’t keep from them. Predators are hiding behind computer screens pretending to be teens or another gender to gain your child's trust. They can even make fake profiles with no accountability to the app maker. It’s scary. But the best thing you can do is educate yourself and talk with your child.

The Open Door is here to assist you by offering the tools and classes to help you get started. These services are free and beneficial to you and your family. Contact us at 254-442-3000 in Cisco or at 254-559-4045 in Breckenridge to get any information about our services. You can also visit www.supportopendoor.org to learn more.

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