6 Tips for Protecting Your Child from Sexual Predators

Being a parent is hard enough without the extra worry of wondering if your child is going to be targeted by a predator. Unfortunately, in the world we live in today, this is a very real and scary concern. Educating ourselves as parents, relatives, and even friends, as well as, making sure your child understands how to spot a predator is key.

Here are some tips for making sure your child is safe.

1. Always know where your child is at all times, and who they are with. Cell phones make this relatively easy. Make sure your child calls you if he/she is going to another location so that you always know where he/she is. This may sound overprotective, but it's alarming to me how many parents, particularly in the case of teenagers, don't always know where their child is. Better the child feel a bit stifled for having to let you know when he/she is on the move again, and who he/she is with, than have something happen while they are on the move, and you not even know where they are or that anything has happened.

2. Teach your child to fight back. Sometimes when the predator is someone a child knows they will hesitate to fight back. Teach your kids to kick, scream, bite or whatever else it takes to get the attention of those around them if something happens that doesn't feel right. Better an adult be embarrassed than a child be kidnapped or worse. Again this may sound extreme, but there are children that have been kidnapped and murdered by people they knew. A few years back I saw the kidnapping of a young girl on videotape. Because the girl knew the predator she didn't fight when he grabbed her and began to force her into his car. She would probably be alive today if she had.

3. Know your children's friends and their parents. When I was young I was not allowed to go to anyone's house for whom my parent's had not at least met the other child's parent(s). This does not guarantee safety of course, but it helps. And knowing your child's friends and their parents means that if something does happen to your child, you can call on them for assistance in finding your child, and or to find out if your child spoke to their friend(s) about anything that may have been happening that relates.

4. Make sure your children understand that a predator can be someone they know and love. Just because they know and love the person does not guarantee safety. Also make it clear that if something does happen that makes them uncomfortable or scares them that they can come to you and talk about it, that they won't be blamed no matter what happened.

5. Monitor your child's internet use. Chat rooms are the most frightening because this is often where online predators sometimes disguising themselves as other children troll the waters for victims. So, know who your child is talking to on the computer, maybe even make a rule that unless the person is on a list of people approved by you, they are not allowed to "chat" with that person. In other words if a stranger suddenly IM's your child on My Space for example, your child may not respond. You might even make a rule that they cannot talk in the chat rooms at all, but only on the Instant Messenger and only to approved people.

6. Use common sense. It truly amazes me how often parents do not use common sense. For example, your pre-teen daughter wants to participate in a sleepover at her friend's house, but her friend lives with her dad. Not that the dad is necessarily a predator or bad person, but if it were me I'd be asking the dad if there was going to be an adult female present during the sleepover. If not, then my daughter would not be participating. This is common sense. The man might be wonderful, the best father in the world, your gut may say he's trustworthy but why chance it? Why put your daughter in a situation that could end badly. Better to use common sense and be safe rather than sorry later on.

These tips are just the beginning and I'm certain that if you think you can come up with more on your own. Our children are our most precious commodity, and it is our responsibility to do everything we can to ensure their safety.