Teaching Online Safety to Prevent Sexual Grooming

[Dr. Elizabeth Jeglic] So how do we, as parents and educators and community members, prevent online sexual grooming? The biggest thing is that we really need to talk to our children. We have to have these conversations frequently, we have to have them young, and we have to have, you know, them in various different ways that are age-appropriate for the child. You know, when they are younger, we make sure that we have all those protocols in place and that protect them. We also want to make sure that they have fun online. It is fun to have fun online and to meet people and to have – especially during Covid, that’s how my children had their community. They were online with their friends. But we want to make sure that children never share their name, age, or location with anyone. They’re never to share a picture online. They shouldn’t chat with adults or strangers online, and never agree to meet anybody that they meet online.