Parents are much too careless when it comes to monitoring their children\u2019s online behaviour. <\/p>\n
So believes Marc Hardwick, a child abuse investigator who addressed parents in Durban on Wednesday. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cOur children are being approached by people we do not know through social media sites, on the internet and their cellphones,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
One of the major threats to children was \u201csexting\u201d, the sending and receiving of sexually explicit images via cellphone. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been an increase in the number of teens involved in this,\u201d he warned the meeting at Gordon Road Girls\u2019 School. <\/p>\n
\u201cChildren are receiving these images \u2013 often of classmates or friends \u2013 and then forwarding them.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cGirls are being pressured by their boyfriends to have (explicit) photos taken and then to send these images on to them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hardwick warned parents that their children would not tell them what they were up to, although they would often tell friends. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Cyberbullying was also fast becoming a major problem. This was when a child was harassed on social network sites and chat rooms, often by other children but sometimes by adults. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
All a parent could do to combat the online scourge that was invading children\u2019s lives was to \u201cbe a parent\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want your children to be safe on the internet then get involved,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Parents should advise children not to meet people in person with whom they connected with on the internet or give out their personal information. <\/p>\n
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