Online dangers are rampant for kids today – CSC on Fox News

One of the most important jobs parents have today is keeping their children safe online.

As moms and dads prepare to send their kids back to school soon, one critical item needs to be included on the checklist: checking out all online platforms their kids are using — and starting conversations early about cyber safety.

Kids and teens between the ages of 8-28 spend about 44.5 hours each week in front of digital screens, according to the nonprofit Center for Parenting Education.

This makes it crystal clear that parents need to be tuned in and very educated about what, exactly, their kids are doing during those hours.

Liz Repking, founder of Cyber Safety Consulting in Chicago, Illinois, started her company about 13 years ago. Her mission is to help parents protect their kids online; she now offers programs for kids, too.

Parents need to take the time to sit down and learn as much as they can about the different platforms their kids are active on, Repking told Fox News Digital in a recent phone interview.

As kids head back to the classroom, a parent’s back-to-school checklist should include learning what platforms their kids are using — and starting healthy dialogues about cyber hygiene.  (iStock)

“Most parents want a piece of software that will make this problem go away — but you cannot outsource parenting,” she said.

“Parents tend to think of all of these problems [with online predators] as technology problems — but these are actually parenting issues that involve technology.”

There are predators that “spend a lot of hours” attempting to groom children, warned Repking.

“These are actually parenting issues that involve technology.” 

“It’s part of our human nature to want to not address things that make us uncomfortable,” she said.

Yet she called discussions and precautions to keep kids safe online “critical.”

Repking stressed that any child online is “really vulnerable.”

A young teenager checks his Facebook page in this image. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Repking shared that her own college-age daughter, a “perfectionist who did everything right,” was — as a child — tricked into conversation online with a 40-year-old predator.

The individual “posed as an 11-year-old girl who played soccer,” she said.

Kids “tend to believe what someone tells them,” Repking said.

It all starts when a child meets someone online, whether it’s through a gaming platform or a social media platform — or on a communication app such as Google Hangout, explained Repking (cybersafetyconsulting.com).

All platforms allow direct messaging (DMs), said Liz Repking. Parents need to be aware of the dangers for their kids. (Getty Images)

“It’s so easy to play on normal human nature of wanting to make friends, especially coming out of two years of a lot of isolation,” Repking said, referencing the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“This summer we’ve seen a great increase in what we call ‘sextortion,’ where young people are being targeted on gaming platforms, a relationship is built, and then the predator somehow asks for a picture of the child.”

Parents should always be asking, “Are there safety settings within that platform to protect my child?”

“It’s so easy to play on normal human nature of wanting to make friends, especially coming out of two years of a lot of isolation.”

Repking offered a key piece of information for parents: All platforms that allow direct messaging regardless of the friendship status are “really dangerous.” Why? Because a predator can contact a child through DMs (direct messaging).

“A lot of parents don’t even know that direct messaging is part of every social media app,” said Repking.

The problem with relying on settings and software to keep a child safe, said Repking, is that every single one of them “has a workaround.”

As soon as children figure out the workaround, they are “really, really vulnerable,” she added. “Now you have a parent that hasn’t educated the child on how to protect themselves and is not really paying attention — because they have confidence in the software.”

Parents need to be engaged and educated about what their children are doing online — and stay connected to how their activities evolve over time. (iStock)

Start safety conversations early, advised Repking.

“It’s much easier to establish dialogue with the third- or fourth-grader than it is with a freshman in high school,” she said.

An open dialogue should always be non-threatening; “Kids feel really threatened around their technology,” she said.

“As parents,” she said, “we can work through the tone of our voice, body language and how we approach the topic, and make kids feel like we’re not constantly accusing them of doing something wrong when it comes to technology.”

“Children learn bad habits at elementary-school age. By the time kids reach high school, they’ve already formed their habits.”

Another good tool is the use of stories, said Repking.

She said she tells kids about her own daughter’s experience, and even several years later a child will remember her story.

“We all find stories interesting, but also it’s very easy for kids to engage in a dialogue when it’s about a third party, whether they know the third party or not.” She added, “There’s something in storytelling — it holds attention, and it’s relatable.”