• Spending large amounts of time on the Internet.
• Withdrawal from family and friends.
• Changes in normal eating patterns and sleeping behaviors.
• Decrease in physical activity.
• Decreased participation in school activities or a drop in academic achievement.

With a child, these behaviors could also indicate a more serious problem. A predator may be having contact with your child through the Internet.

Additional behaviors a parent should acknowledge as an indication their son or daughter is in contact with a child predator through the Internet include:

• Evasive or secretive behavior exhibited by your child when talking to them about their Internet usage.
• Your child may suddenly close a window or minimize a screen on the computer when you enter the room.
• Your child may have been sent or is viewing sexually explicit material through the internet.
• Your child is chatting with someone through the Internet on topics that are not age appropriate.
• Your child is receiving telephone calls or gifts from someone you dont know.
• Your child is using an online account belonging to someone else.
• You discover your child is secretly making plans to meet, or has met someone they have chatted with online.

Any of these behaviors can be an indication that your child needs your help. If you feel your son or daughter is the victim of an Internet child predator, contact your local law enforcement agency immediately.

A parent can reduce the risk of their child having contact with an Internet predator by:

• Talking to your child about potential online dangers while using the Internet.
• Keeping the computer in a common room in your home and not in your childs bedroom. It is difficult for an Internet predator to communicate with your child when the computer screen is visible to you and others in your home.
• Maintaining access to your childs online account and randomly checking their email.
• Telling your child to never give out personal information while online.
• Telling your child to use gender neutral names while on the Internet.
• Telling your child never to respond to messages that are suggestive, obscene, threatening, belligerent or harassing.
• Telling your child never to upload (post) picture of themselves on the Internet or online service to people they do not know personally, and not without your permission.
• Telling your child to never download pictures from an unknown source, as they may contain sexually explicit material.
• Telling your child to never meet someone face to face from the Internet without first obtaining your permission.

Parents should also utilize parental controls provided by their service provider and/or blocking software. Types of utilities contained in parental software include:

• Blocking and filtering of potentially offensive sites.
• Simplified childrens browser that gives parents total control designating appropriate web sites and blocking objectionable ones.
• A screen capture program that shows words, phrases or pictures about pornography, violence, illegal activity or Internet gambling that appear as a result of your childs activity online.
• Server based or personal computer based program that monitors and captures sites, images, dates and times of access.
• Software that captures your childs Internet activities. Captures screen shots of games, chat rooms, web sites and email. Most include time/date stamp.
• Software that monitors web browsing sessions, capturing graphic files, history of viewed URLs, cookies, documents opened, addresses of bookmarked sites, may even be set to email a parent at work or to an alternate site, with a list of URLs that have been viewed.

Parents should not rely completely on parental controls/blocking software. Appropriate supervision and open communicationwith your child will help reduce the chance that your child will be in contact with an Internet predator.

Pledge for online safety:

• I will not give out personal information on the Internet.
• I will never send a picture of myself to someone on the Internet without first asking permission from my parents/guardians.
• I will not meet someone face to face from the Internet without first asking permission form my parents/guardians.
• I will not respond to any messages that are suggestive, obscene, threatening or that make me feel uncomfortable.
• I will talk with my parents/guardians and we will decide upon the time of day, length of time, and the appropriate areas for me to visit online.
• I will never give my password to anyone.

REPORT A CREEP - call 1-877-5CYBER3