Sharing intimate pictures and videos is one of the ways we build strong relationships with friends and lovers, an obvious part of growing up.
Especially at the age of adulthood and using Internet-connected devices, children are easily influenced by outside factors and do not fully understand what to post and what not to post. So parents need to proactively be prepared now and have early education for 6-11-years-olds educate about sexting. The article helps you How to talk to your kids about Sexting.
What is Sexting?
Sexting is the sending, receiving or forwarding of pornography or pornographic messages via text message or email. Although the term “sext” appeared more than ten years ago, the concept of exchanging or storing sexually related images or messages is not new. Historically, these materials have been distributed via drawings, photos and videos.
Then, as the internet came into being, electronic devices and social media became tools to simplify and spread sexual materials easier and more powerful than ever. With just one click, a photo can be widely distributed to many others.
And once this content has been spread, it will remain forever on the Internet, there is no way to permanently delete it.
Is it too early for early education about sexting for kids?
The answer is no. Educating your child about dangers on the Internet (sexting is one of them) while your child is using a cell phone or smartphone or other internet-connected device is never too early.
These conversations can help your child understand what sexting is and help prevent your child from sharing inappropriate pictures of himself or others. And these conversations also ensure that your child recognizes inappropriate images and knows what to do if he or she receives nudity or partial nudity.
One mistake is that many parents assume sex is harmless because, in reality, no sex happens. However, sexting is a form of sexual intercourse – sending, receiving and transmitting nudity photos, messages, videos, pornography such as nudity, sexual behavior or sexual emojis.
Be proactive and don’t wait until something goes wrong or you’ve found something on your child’s phone or tablet.
What is sexting?
Sexting is the sending, receiving or forwarding of pornography or pornographic messages via text message or email. Although the term “sext” appeared more than ten years ago, the concept of exchanging or storing sexually related images or messages is not new. Historically, these materials have been distributed via drawings, photos and videos.
Then, as the internet came into being, electronic devices and social media became tools to simplify and spread sexual materials easier and more powerful than ever. With just one click, a photo can be widely distributed to many others. And once this content has been spread, it will remain forever on the Internet, there is no way to permanently delete it.
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How to talk to your kids about sexting?
Start a conversion
You may feel ashamed and embarrassed to talk to your child about these sensitive issues. Those are natural emotions. Taking talking about gender and gender-related issues is the same as talking with your kids about safety on the Internet.
You can skillfully start by asking what your child is naked and have they heard someone use the word at school, can they tell their parents what they know. Then let your child’s situations and questions guide what you say.
If your child doesn’t want to talk about nudity or say they know it all, whatever the reason, let them feel they are not being judged or scolded by you.
Explain the term sexting for kids
In the early conversations about sending inappropriate images, after you find out what your child already knows about sending pornography or nudity, you need to explain what sexting is.
For example “Sexting is when you take a picture of yourself or another person without getting dressed or wearing very little clothes and sending it to your friends or sharing it on social networks”.
You can then lead the conversation with a few questions. For example:
- Did anyone at school talk about posting nudity or taking pictures of their bodies?
- Do you know who sent or received the nudity?
- Have you ever sent or received a nude photo?
- Do you wonder what you have heard?
If your child has questions about sending nude messages, try to answer them as honestly and as openly as possible. Tell your children that they can talk to you at any time if they receive an image that annoys them or if they are worried about an image they sent.
It is important to let your children know that you are not going to be angry and that you are a trustworthy place they can rely on at any time.
Help your child understand the dangers of sexting
Explaining why is sexting bad for teenagers with some of the below example:
Those sexting messages and images will last forever
Teenagers sometimes believe that photos sent via text message, email or even on Snapchat will only be viewable by the recipient. But once sent, these images are completely out of the child’s control. They can be downloaded, copied, forwarded to others and reposted.
Even images shared using Snapchat are not risk-free. There are a ton of tools out there that allow predators to copy images and save them before the app deletes them. One of the dire consequences of sexting is that many young lives have been ruined by the erotic and nudity photos sent via Snapchat.
B lackmail risk
At the moment when your child decides to send his or her nudity, your child can be blackmailed later. There have been many cases where the recipient of an image repeatedly threatened to embarrass the sender.
To preserve their reputation, many young people, after being threatened, will try to give the predators the required money. They are too ashamed to call for help from their family and decide to handle it on their own. When this is too serious, many children become severely psychologically affected, leading to suicide or participating in illegal acts to make money.
R eputation destroyed
Sending pornography to others is never a good idea, no matter how serious and intimate the relationship is. Pictures like this can damage or destroy a reputation. For example, the person receiving the photo can brag about them and show them to others. Or they can share them after your child’s relationship ends.
This will be extremely humiliating and embarrassing.
It can also lead to bullying and humiliation. People give their opinion about your child just by looking at the pictures. These images can even ruin your child’s online reputation.
Tell your child about what should be shared and what should not
You can talk to your child about the content they should share and content they should not share, and instruct your child to always consider carefully before posting anything.
It would be great if your child has a point of view on image sharing, so ask your child what images they think can be shared. You can ask if your child is happy when you, their teacher or grandparents see the pictures. If the answer is no, explain that it may not be appropriate to share them.
Besides, teach your child soft skills when behaving on the Internet, including empathizing other people’s feelings and not doing things that make them uncomfortable, thereby letting them understand that they don’t want to be bullied or hurt by someone. If caused on the Internet, in contrast, you are not allowed to gossip, spread rumors, bully or hurt someone’s feelings on the Internet.
One way to get your child to think respectfully is to encourage them to think about the people in any photo or video they want to share by answering some questions:
- Did you ask other people to post this content?
- How will they feel when you post this?
- How would they feel if a friend, parent, or teacher saw the photo?
What’s else on the Internet is waiting to attack your children?
One of the most serious problems today is harmful content. Harmful content is not just adult, pornographic content, but also images/videos indicating murder, violence, gore, etc. content that frighten and upset your child.
You have to admit that your children are increasingly dependent on the Internet to learn, play and connect with the world, to ensure your child’s online environment is safe and healthier, especially when your child start using the Internet, you should consider using an additional online content filtering tool – considered by many parents as one of the best free parental control software to hide 15 types of harmful content on the Internet, including:
- Pornography
- Horrifying content like gore, accidents, ghosts, violence, murder, terrorism, etc
- Content about stimulants, addictive substances such as alcohol, beer, marijuana, drugs, etc
- Content with aggressive elements, hurting others like Hate speech
This free porn blocker extension can help to minimize your child’s access to harmful content, ensuring a healthy online environment for your child but at the same time, not invading their privacy rights.
Wise modern parents are always proactive in bringing the best for their children. To better protect your child from all porn sites, for all internet-connected devices your child use, you should pre-order Wifi Device, becoming the first parents to own the solution which 24/7 protects your kids from harmful websites. Best prices are always available for early birds!
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