PARENTS SHOULD CREATE SAFE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT FOR CHILDREN

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 -- Parents must think of internet safety in order to create a safe online environment for their children, said eSafeKids founder in Australia, Kayelene Kerr.

She said with an increasing number of ‘online grooming’ cases, it is important for parents to be aware of the potential dangers and work together to provide holistic support to instil an understanding on online safety best practice among children.

Parents , she said, should understand that ‘online grooming’ was one of the main elements in online sexual exploitation cases, with predators actively seeking for new victims, especially children and young persons. 

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“Online grooming is a preplan with the intention of establishing some form of a relationship with the child or young person that can lead to sexual abuse.

“It is estimated that about 750,000 active online predators are connected to the internet at any one time,” she added.

Kerr said this at a second virtual session on Child Online Safety & Protection (COSP) which was moderated by Serba Dinamik Group Berhad (SDGB) senior vice president of Cybersecurity Col (Rtd) Datuk Dr Husin Jazri recently.

She said it is important to teach children the correct terminology for the private parts of their body.

“Teach children the correct terms for the private parts of their body in the same way you would teach them head, shoulders, knees, toes, elbow, hand, eye, ear, nose etc. 

“No one should touch or take a photo or video of the private parts of the body without a good reason. If you do use 'home names' for the private parts, remind children if their private parts are hurting, if they have questions about their private parts or someone has touched or asked to touch their private parts, to tell their parents,” she said.

Kerr said ongoing and developmentally appropriate conversation and education about protective behaviour (body safety) and comprehensive relationship and sex education are  essential, especially with so many children seeing, being sent and shown pornographic images in primary school and the rise of child-on-child sexual abuse and children or young people displaying harmful sexual behaviours.

COSP, the first real-time measure to help nations better understand children’s online safety status, was introduced by SDGB, in collaboration with Cyber8Lab and eSafeKids.

The session was held by e-Security & Privacy Channel (ESPC), powered by SDGB as part of the global movement in collaboration with over 18 industries and government agencies, including the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), TechLab Security, Computer and Communication Network System (SRKK), AustCyber and Sarawak Department of Women & Family (JWKS).

-- BERNAMA