By Jose R. Gonzalez STAFF WRITER
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office is urging parents to be more mindful of what their children are doing online and to warn them of online predators.
“The internet has made it much, much easier to groom a child without a parent knowing it because there’s that kind of inherent anonymity and privacy that happens within a device. It’s harder to see,” said Shanna Redwine, special victims division chief at the District Attorney’s Office.
Redwine said parents need to discuss with their children their use of digital devices and about not sending nude images. Parents should instruct their children to only converse with trusted people they know in person, the prosecutor added.
“Exercising the same safety you do in real life on the internet,” Redwine advised.
If images are shared, the prosecutor continued, children will feel shame and embarrassment “it can add to their unwillingness to tell,” she said while calling for parents to let their kids know there are resources like nonprofits and law enforcement to help them.
The open lines of communication are even more pressing, Redwine explained, because children will often not immediately disclose abuse and it may take repeated instances for these offenses to be reported.
“It’s hard for a kid to talk about bad things that are happening to them,” she said. jose.gonzalez@chron.com twitter.com/jrgzztx