Nowadays, the majority of children and adolescents under 18 years of age usually spend a long time of their day on the Internet, either due to school obligations or as a form of distraction. However, there is one theme that represents a constant danger for minors on the web: grooming.
For many parents, grooming may be a totally unknown topic, but one of which they must be very alert, since it is the word with which virtual child abuse practices are identified, one of the most important dangers that minors run. In Internet.
Do you know how to identify when a minor may be a victim of grooming? In this article we have created a brief guide for parentswith which you will be able to know and detect each of the signs that can warn about a possible case of child abuse through the web.
What is grooming?
Grooming is a term used to identify child harassment practices on the Internet, in which an adult takes advantage of the vulnerability of a minor through the web, to harass him or her and force him or her to carry out any type of inappropriate activity. or sexual connotation.
There are many situations in which a stalker can take advantage of a minor online. Generally, the most common cases They occur when an adult creates fake profilespretending to be a minor, to capture the attention of a boy or girl and ask for personal photographs with explicit content.
How to detect and prevent grooming?
Although the ideal is to maintain constant control of the content and web pages that minors visit on the Internet, most of the time this is almost impossible, due to the large amount of content to which a child may be exposed. person on the web.
However, there are certain recommendations that you can give your child to keep them Be alert to these types of situations. Below, we mention 6 of the most important ones:
- Teach him that he should not accept unknown people on his social networks.
- Make sure that the passwords your child uses for their social networks are sufficiently secure.
- Prohibit him from going on dates with people he has met online.
- Make sure they don’t post personal information. You should not disclose information about the school you attend, address, photos of family members and information about places they frequent, in order to avoid contact with possible harassers.
- Make sure they always keep their networks private.
- Teach him that under no circumstances should he share personal photos over the web.
Remember that the Internet is a place where anyone can pose as someone trustworthy, with the aim of gaining the trust of a minor and then harassing them in different ways.
Don’t let this happen to your children. Talk to them clearly about the dangers to which they may be exposed on the web, and give them the necessary confidence so that they can come to you if they feel harassed by an unknown person.
What should I do in a case of grooming?
If you suspect that your child may be the victim of a stalker on the Internet, it is important that you know how to act appropriately and responsibly, so that you can report the case of grooming to the competent authorities.
First of all, it is important that you try talk to the minor. Avoid blaming or shaming him for what happened. Remember that it is important that they feel confident enough to tell you in detail what happened.
Try to gather as much information as possible about the case. Save the conversations that the minor has had with the bullied person, photographs and any data that may help the authorities investigate the incident.
Finally, don’t stay silent. Report the case to the nearest prosecutor’s officeso that the authorities can resolve the case and do justice, preventing this type of crime from continuing to be committed.
A crime that we must report to the law
Globally, the fight against grooming and virtual child harassment has become increasingly stronger. During recent months, with the increase in Internet use by Covid-19 pandemic restrictionscases of child bullying through the web have registered a worrying increase in several countries worldwide.
In Latin America, specifically in countries such as Argentina, Chile and Ecuador, the term grooming is considered a criminal offense, referring to online sexual harassment of minors, with penalties that can range from 6 months to 10 years in prison for stalkers.
Furthermore, the campaigns have not been long in coming. In most countries there are different advertising campaigns that call to be aware of the dangers of groomingas well as to report cases in which minors may be under the control of a harasser.
The task of informing the population about these types of dangers belongs to everyone. You can also be part of the change. and let’s put an end to cases of child bullying in the world. Let’s make our voices heard and prevent more minors from being victims of grooming.