April 1, 2009

Archdiocese offers free class to parents to keep kids safe on the Internet

By John Gleason

April has been declared Child Abuse Prevention Month for parishes and dioceses.  As part of that declaration, the Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has developed resources to facilitate activities to highlight the need for prevention efforts.  These resources include liturgical guides and articles on efforts to reach out to victims and to protect children.  All materials are available on the USCCB Web site at usccb.org/ocyp/april_cap_month_2009.shtml.

Care for minors is a key priority of the organization, which has spearheaded nationwide safe environment programs.

In the Archdiocese of Denver, one effort that is available is a training program to parents who want to learn more about the Internet and how to protect children from dangers lurking in cyberspace.  The program is offered to parishes by Christopher Pond, executive director for the archdiocesan Child and Youth Protection Office.

“Many parents haven’t kept up to speed on the new technology that their kids are involved in,” Pond said. “They may have heard about social networking, but have no idea what Facebook or MySpace is.  I discuss how kids need to be aware of whom they talk to and what parents can do to monitor the Internet better; it’s an introductory class on computer safety.”

Pond noted that parents set rules about curfew, making sure that when it gets dark outside, children come in for the night.  Yet when their children jump online, a lot of parents have no idea who their children are talking to.  That is a recipe for trouble, Pond said.  One of the topics Pond discusses is what personal information people should not put online, warning that some information may be used by predators to locate children.

“Don’t let children put the name of their school or sports they play,” he said. “Avoid giving out your full name, address, phone number—any kind of information where people could actually find out where you live.”

The class, which is offered at parishes free of charge, has been available for more than a year, but in light of the announcement from the USCCB, Pond thought it would be a good idea to let parents know it’s still available.

“This seemed to be the time to bring the program back,” he said.  “It takes about ninety minutes to cover all the material.”

Sharon Mickel recently took the class.  A mother of three children, ages 15, 11 and 7, she admits all are much more Internet savvy than she is so when the program was announced at her parish of St. Louis in Louisville, she made sure she didn’t miss it.

“Kids today are smart.  They know how to navigate around the Internet and where to go to chat with their friends and meet people,” she said.  “But we have to remember that they’re still kids—they’re impressionable and not always aware of what can be lurking out there.”

Mickel said that while there are many good things about the Internet, parents need to keep tabs on where their children are surfing and who they are talking to.

Kim Perez, director of youth ministry at St. Louis Parish, said one of the things a lot of parents are amazed at is the language used in texting.

“The lingo can look like a foreign language,” she said. “Many parents look at it and have no idea of what it means.  This is just one example of why I’d encourage every parent whose children surf online to attend a class like this.” 

Parishes can contact Pond’s office at 303-715-3226 to arrange a time to offer the training.