Of course, as a parent you are not completely up to date with all the abbreviations that your child uses online. However, there are certain abbreviations that you really need to know for the safety of your child. In this sheet we list them for you!
Online contact with grooming usually starts with love-bombing: lots of compliments and sweet words to gain trust and later abuse it. By telling your child about this, they learn more about suspicious signals. Grooming, sex chatting and sextortion are punishable can be reported to the police as they are a crime. It is important to know this and take action as a parent, it is never the child’s fault.
What can you do as a parent?
- Make clear agreements together – Screen social media profiles and teach your child to be critical of follow requests – also in chat apps. If you do not know someone in real life, do not accept that person online. Other agreements can be: do not use your real name on social media, do not post your address and telephone number anywhere and think twice about what you post.
- Talk about online communication – By regularly talking about the online world together, children learn that it is normal to share their online experiences with you. Do this, for example, by asking questions and listening without judgement, so that they feel free to tell you if something goes wrong.
- If things go wrong – Support your child and emphasize that it is not their fault: someone else has taken advantage of their vulnerability. There is a good chance that they are ashamed and find it difficult to talk about it. In addition, report it via Helpwanted, and/or file a report with the police.
