With news of a 31-year-old Gloucester, VA man trading sexually explicit text messages and photos with a 12-year-old girl, uKnow.com provides parents with what they need to know to prevent this from happening to their child.
According to The Daily Press, a Gloucester man was sentenced to 5 years on Tuesday for trading sexually explicit messages and photos to a minor. The Parental Intelligence System uKnowKids, created by uKnow.com, wants to offer sexting resources and tips to residents of Lubbock, TX and surrounding areas so parents can better protect their children from sexting incidents.
uKnowKids has put together a resources page specifically for sexting. This page includes infographics, tip sheets, and blog entries about sexting prevention and other ways to keep children safe from predators online and on mobile phones. uKnowKids has also published a sexting prevention eBook entitled “Understanding Sexting: Nine Things Every Parent Should Know” that can be downloaded free by all parents. uKnowKids wants to make sure that the community of Gloucester and Virginia can keep young residents safe and prevent another incident like this from happening — with education comes prevention.
uKnow.com’s co-founder’s son had a scary incident stemming from an online and mobile phone encounter. Since that time, Tim Woda has made it his mission to educate himself about internet and mobile safety and spread the lessons he learned to as many parents as possible. He feels strongly that every parent should be aware of their child’s online and mobile activities so stories like his and so many others never have to happen again.
Tim offers these tips for parents to prevent sexting and the sharing of inappropriate pictures:
Understand the technology that your child is using. Be familiar with all the functions of the technology devices your child is using on their phones, including social network sites, gaming systems, chat sites, etc. Some of these could have messaging and photo-sharing options that you might not even know existed.
Communicate house rules. Before your child is allowed a phone, he or she should be well-aware of any pre established house rules. Discuss your expectations for mobile behavior and the consequences for failing to meet those expectations, but also discuss the potential legal and social repercussions of sending inappropriate pictures or spreading them online, whether they are of your child or not.
Be a vigilant parent. Know who your child is talking to and who is trying to talk to them. The more information you have about their interactions on their phone, the better equipped you will be to interfere if anything dangerous should happen. Parental Intelligence systems such as uKnowKids are a great way to help out with this task if you think it is too overwhelming.
There are lessons that every parent and child need to learn from the sexting incident in Gloucester, VA and Tim and his family know about them firsthand. Tim is open to speaking
more about his story and the lessons he learned so parents will take notice and keep their children safe online. uKnowKids is also open to free product distribution in schools and areas that have been affected by sexting. If you are interested in speaking with Tim or want more information about sexting tips, uKnowKids or product distribution, email Callie at charris@uknow.com.
About uKnow.com
Headquartered in Arlington, VA, uKnow.com makes parenting easier and keeps kids safer online and on the mobile phone. uKnow.com powers the world’s leading Parental Intelligence Systems including uKnowKids.com, SocialFirefly.com, aBeanstalk.com, SafeCyberKids.com, MySocialScout.net, P911Safety.com and others. For more information visit http://www.uknow.com
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