Digital Parenting Tricks: What should you do if your child receives a request for an in-person meeting?

We know there are serious risks when your children get together in person, for the first time, with someone they have met online. First off, keep calm if you don’t know the person they are about to meet. Getting angry or acting scared won’t help you manage the situation better. Try to understand what the meeting is all about and talk with your child about it.

Encourage your children to respect some basic rules:

always ask you beforehand if it is ok to meet an online friend

never go alone to meet a stranger. They should take a parent along

always meet in a public, known place, even after the child has already met that person a few times before

let your children know you are always there for them, and their safety is a collaborative process. It is not a matter of trust, but a matter of safety. You, as a parent, should know when your children are meeting people, colleagues or friends. It is protection, not privacy invasion

have this conversation about meeting strangers in real life again and again – it might save your kids a world of trouble.

 

This article is part of the Digital Parenting Tricks series for the Bitdefender Parental Control* feature. Bitdefender worked with a psychologist to create a cheat sheet for parents and offer them some guidance on how to deal with some of the most troublesome digital challenges of our time. Because we want to use technology to find new ways to stand up to this kind of behaviour.

*The Detection of Cyberbullying and Online Predators functionality is no longer available in Bitdefender products.