Children with access to the online world continue to get younger across the globe. Kids as young as four and five often have access to the Internet, and at times may know more about it than their parents. The younger kids begin using the Internet the more susceptible they are to being a target for online predators.  

On average 3500 cases are reported monthly to Cybertip.ca from Manitobans across the province. Cybertip is a tip line provided by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, a charitable organization dedicated to the personal safety of all children, with a goal to reduce child victimization by providing national programs and services to the Canadian public.

Yesterday was International Safer Internet Day (#SID2017), Director of Cybertip.ca Sydney Arnason said the day portrays and important message.

"The official theme for this year is "Unite For A Better Internet" but as an organization, we felt it was important to bring it back to what we are really talking about, and that's Internet safety starts offline. We have a new free resource available online at Cybertip.ca or Protectchildren.ca called "Safety Rocks" aimed at children in Grades 3 and 4. It helps parents teach important personal safety strategies, such as when to keep or speak a secret, who is a safe adult, and what is okay and not okay," explained Arnason.

Arnason continued by saying we need to be having these discussions with our kids as soon as they start interacting with the online world, noting that teaching them important strategies will help them while they are on or off the Internet.

Protectchildren.ca or Cybertip.ca has many resources for youth of all ages available to parents or teachers to help coach kids on Internet safety for free.