Internet Dangers to Children and What You Can Do

First Published: May 2006
Last Update: May 2006
Author:  Kerby T. Alvy, Ph.D.

The Internet is an extraordinary tool for parents to learn how to be more effective and successful in raising children. Unfortunately, the Internet is also a place where children can be seriously endangered and victimized by sexual predators. 

A study by the British NOP Research Group found that of the four million children aged seven to 17 who surf the net, 29% percent would freely give out their home address and 14% would freely give out their e-mail address if asked 

A Parents' Internet Monitoring Study (2005) prepared for Cox Communications, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and NetSmartz, determined that nearly three out of 10 parents in their study didn't know or were not sure if their children talk to strangers online. 

An even more shocking report by The Crimes Against Children Research Center titled Online Victimization: A Report on the Nation's Youth (2000) found that one in five youth using the Internet receive online sexual solicitations. 

These dangers have recently become more widely acknowledged as more young people are using the Internet for social networking and friendship communication purposes. A good example of this phenomena is the use of MySpace.com (which now has over 70 million youthful members) and Facebook.com.

The careless use of such websites by naive and gullible young people has been putting hundreds of thousands of such children and youth in the direct lens of sexual predators from every state and country.

These realities, threats and dangers call out for parental intervention, as well as intervention by schools, churches, community groups, and law enforcement agencies.


One such organization, i-SAFE, (whose work is supported by such federal government agencies as the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention) provides many concrete actions for parents, schools and communities to take to protect children from these hazards, as well as mobilizing youth themselves in this war against Internet dangers.

On their website, isafe.org, they offer a i-PARENT Toolkit CD on how best to deal with sexual predators, cyber bullying, cyber-security and identity theft. In the kit is information about Internet safety issues, the National i-PARENT Campaign along with an i-PARENT Toolbox which shows parents how to:

1. Join or create an I-Parent Board
2. Conduct an I-Parent Program or Training
3. Promote Youth Empowerment
4. Adopt a School.

Parents can also get the current issue (as well as back issues) of i-PARENT Times. This downloadable publication has a variety of helpful tips, ideas and information that parents can utilize to learn about what their children are doing online.

About the Author:

Kerby T. Alvy, Ph.D. is a nationally and internationally respected authority on parenting and parent training. He is the executive director and founder of the Center for the Improvement of Child Caring in Studio City, CA. The center has a variety of parenting books, videos and other products available on its Web site http://www.ciccparenting.org On his blog, http://www.EducatedParenting.com, Dr. Alvy addresses a variety of parenting topics, issues, and trends. Dr. Alvy is available as a consultant, speaker, and media guest. For more information, go to http://www.DrAlvy.com To sign-up for Dr. Alvy's free Effective Parenting Newsletter, go to http://www.ciccparenting.org and click on "Add Me".