Dilemma. What would you do?

[daydream**believer]

Ok, this is quite a long story. I hope it makes sense. **Real names have not been used**

On the weekend, my daughter came to me  and said "Mum, theres something odd going on with some of my friends that i want to talk to you about cause im a bit worried"

She tells me that 3 of her friends (lets call them Tom, Jim and Sue) have made friends on facebook with a boy (lets call him John) they dont know who lives in Newcastle. Tom, Jim and Sue live in Adelaide.

Tom became friends with John first by receiving an out of the blue friend request from him.

John claims to be a 16 year old boy. His facebook page has lots of photos of him with heaps of friends. He's quite a good looking kid.

Tom think John is so cool and, via facebook, introduces him to Jim and Sue.

John strikes up quite a friendship with Sue and last week asked her to be his girlfriend. Sue is completely infatuated with John.

John has now said that his dad is going to bring him to Adelaide in a couple of weeks to meet Tom, Jim and Sue.

He has even said that a great place for them to all meet up would be the local swimming pool.

None of this sits right with me. Why a kid in Newcastle (a popular, good looking one according to his facebook page) would need to make friends with strangers in Adelaide. Would want one of them to be his girlfriend and then get his dad to bring him all the way over here to meet them.

Im not sure if you are all aware of the of the Carly Ryan story, but it is making me quite nervous about whats going on.

Carly Ryan- http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/lifestyle/article/-/7013312/internet-predators/

I know Jim's mother quite well and am going to talk to her about it all tomorrow. I know she has no idea who Jim talks to on facebook.

Im wondering, should i go to the police? They could at least investigate if John is real. I thought about going to the school, but all they would do is give a talk about internet predators and the kids would ignore it.

Over the weekend, my daughter tried to talk to Tom and Jim about the risks but they just didnt get it. They think John is so cool.

The whole "better to be safe than sorry" phrase keeps popping in my head.

Oh, and by the way, John's last name on facebook in Smith

[daydream**believer]

everything at school is fine for my daughter.

No backlash at all

And yeh, i dont think an internet predator thread needs to be turned into a dog talk thread

X-(

[izabsmiling]

That's good Amy and that's how it should be. hopefully this has also raised awareness at the school and elsewhere as well 🙂

[izabsmiling]

That's good Amy and that's how it should be. hopefully this has also raised awareness at the school and elsewhere as well 🙂

that was in reply to

everything at school is fine for my daughter.

No backlash at all

[daydream**believer]

i hope so iza. Im on the school governing council so i will be pushing hard for a special assembly with the kids (and inviting parents) about internet safety

[toon_town_nutter]

In year seven last year my daughter did a health class and one term was dedicated to risk taking behaviour and all I could really get from my daughter was it was about drinking, smoking and drugs and that was it 😮 IMO they should concentrate more on other things and try and cover a much wider range. Miss 13 called me from a friend's house one day asking to go canoeing at a river where there have been many deaths over the years. I said no. She rang back and said they'd managed to borrow some life jackets! OMG they weren't even going to wear any in the first place! But at least she won't smoke I guess not that that class would have been much good to her if she'd drowned.

[**meep**]

In year seven last year my daughter did a health class and one term was dedicated to risk taking behaviour and all I could really get from my daughter was it was about drinking, smoking and drugs and that was it 😮 IMO they should concentrate more on other things and try and cover a much wider range. Miss 13 called me from a friend's house one day asking to go canoeing at a river where there have been many deaths over the years. I said no. She rang back and said they'd managed to borrow some life jackets! OMG they weren't even going to wear any in the first place! But at least she won't smoke I guess not that that class would have been much good to her if she'd drowned.

They do at our school.  Cyber bullying and internet safety has been addressed adequately IMO.  There are workshops for parents and they organise visits from the Police to discuss those issues with both parents and students.

[daydream**believer]

I just watched a movie called 'Trust'. A must see for all parents.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9J3fBSpXwc

[**meep**]

I have seen that movie.  There have been many movies and documentaries on this subject. 

I will try to post some titles later if I can remember them.

[everything*that*i*ever*wanted]

Has any more come of this Amy ?

[daydream**believer]

i havent been told anything