With the recent tragedy in the news of the 17-year-old girl groomed, raped and murdered by a Facebook predator, I thought parents would also appreciate a wake-up call from a slightly different angle.
My son is now 18. While aged 17, he was contacted on Facebook by a girl with similar interests, particularly a shared love of Oxford United, who asked to be his ‘friend’.
As my son is still at school, he has many Facebook acquaintances, of all ages, and not just those he sees every day. But the one thing I had always instilled in him, was that you should check out what you can about a stranger, before commiting to a friendship.
After all, none of us these days is immune from identity theft, let along anything more sinister.
However, I thank my lucky stars that I’ve brought my son up to be totally open and honest with me, as it wasn’t long before some of her chat started to become rather inappropriate.
Comments like, “Do you think I'm sexy?” and “I bought a bra today, but I don’t know if you’d be interested” started appearing. And the moment it did, my son sought my advice on how he should stop her.
I explained to him that the girl was very, very fortunate to have come across a boy like him, and not the type of predator we’ve had to read about recently.
You see, her parents, in particular, would have a hard time accepting that their 13 – yes, 13 – year-old daughter, was the predator and not my 17-year-old son.
Do you know what your daughters are doing on their computers tonight?
Name and address supplied, Oxfordshire
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here