This world would be a better place to live if there weren’t bad people whose only satisfaction is to hurt someone. Dangers exist in the digital world as well.
We parents and our kids spend most of our time using technology devices, therefore we must protect ourselves from possible dangers.
It is in kids’ nature to be naive and trustful, they have pure hearts, and someone can use that against them.
Possible Dangers While our Kids Play Video Games Online
We can’t stop our kids from playing video games online. But communication between parents and kids can prevent dangerous online behavior.
Children must know that they can not be 100% sure that the people they are playing with are the same as they present themselves. Usually, online predators use video games to achieve their goals because of the great number of kids playing online.
What are Online Gaming Predators?
Online predators usually are people that target and hurt children online. Studies show that 20% of children have encountered online predators.
Predators often present creepy and abnormal behavior, especially toward children. They usually hide their identity and use fake profiles to look like children, while online predators are older people creeping on children (just the thought of that is eerie).
Predators can psychologically harm your children and traumatize them for the rest of their lives by causing trust issues and such.
How Online Predators Target Children
Predators often start with a friendly, get-to-know-each-other chat, where their main goal is to find out the child’s age, name, and personal information. Then they try to get close to the child, ask friendly, polite questions, and get to know what are the weaknesses of that child.
Once they gain the child’s trust, they dig even deeper into his or her mind and separate that kid from the rest of the world. When a strong bond is made, the predator starts sending inappropriate messages and sometimes even reveals his or her true identity.
Why are Online Gaming Predators Dangerous?
Children can suffer enormous consequences if they’re targeted by an online game predator. Online gaming predators possess the kid’s trust, pictures, and conversations and use them to blackmail and abuse the kid.
Later on, the child is ashamed and destroyed, and develops mental breakdowns, panic attacks, and fears. Parents usually find out when the damage is already done.
The Why’s and How’s of Protecting Children from Online Gaming Predators
Our kids are not safe online or offline. We parents must be aware that every one of us can be victims of online gaming predators. We must expand our knowledge and inform our kids how to protect themselves.
Online predators are a big threat to our children because we don’t know when or how they’ll reach out. In the following paragraphs, we will quickly go over several ways of protecting children from online predators.
Be a Protective Parent
As we can see, online gaming predators aren’t a simple problem that we can just squash like a bug. Being educated and well-informed about the topic is key for every parent in today’s world.
Educating Children
Keeping your children’s profiles secure and teaching them not to share private information is a must in today’s tech-filled life. Your child must be well aware of the fact that scary online predators lurk around every corner of the net and should keep an eye out for them.
Setting Clear Rules and Guidelines
Playing video games online demands setting strict rules that our kids must accept. Otherwise, they will not be allowed to play. Have an open conversation with kids about online gaming predators, and how they can become easy targets if they don’t respect the rules and chat with strangers.
Parents must educate children not to expose themselves, talk to, trust, and exchange information with people they don’t know.
Creating a Healthy Gaming Environment
When I say that you need to create a healthy gaming environment, I don’t mean that you should keep the place where your children play games clean.
Although keeping the gaming station tidy is also important, the term healthy gaming environment means having a secure and safe gaming presence.
In the next part of this article, you will find out more about several ways you can improve your child’s gaming environment.
Monitoring Your Child’s Online Gaming Activities
Even though we parents have a lot of obligations during the day, we must monitor our kids’ online gaming presence. Parents must be informed about the type of game their children play, the amount of time they spend on it, and with whom they play.
The best way to do that is to always be present while they are playing. That sounds impossible, right? So, we can always use a tool like parental control and block unpleasant content, other users, and websites, and limit screen time.
You can find the parental control option on all devices (in Settings).
Reporting Suspicious Behavior
Children who recognize suspicious and inappropriate messages can easily get rid of the user harassing them by simply blocking, restricting,+ and reporting them.
Choosing the Perfect Games
Choosing a game for your child is a nearly impossible task for any parent. Or is it? You can succeed if you start educating your children about their game choice from a younger age.
Also, make sure to keep up with the newest and trendiest games and see whether you will let your children play them or not. My favorite child-friendly games that I also sometimes play with children are:
· FIFA;
You can also find many more games just by searching for family games on your search engines or downloading apps.
Conclusion
As the tech world rises, children more and more often use their digital devices. The widespread digital community also offers ground for online predators that may target your child.
So, it is really important to educate your children about the risks and dangers the digital world has to offer. After all, the phrase “stranger danger” works well in the tech world too.
ALSO READ: How to Support a Child with Gaming Addiction
