protecting your child from grooming online as a parent is mostly this easy: just do not fuck up the trust they put in you (the trust you have for free by default as a parent)
but nooo, first they choose to betray that trust by trading it for a few cheap giggles of far relatives by "I am going to tell you little Timmy's secret dream because I think it's worthless!" or by completely disrespecting the child's privacy and autonomy, and then they cry bitter tears "why, oh why my child would rather trust a literal rando online but not me"
well too bad Susan, you made this bed
b e a r d
@tomie well said. there is a huge lack of emotional support from parents. i never really felt like i could talk to my parents about anything. i still kind of don't feel that way with certain things.
i hope that i can be a better parent for my kids, if i have any.
@tomie kids have a lot of emotional capacity but not the maturity to prevent themselves from being manipulated.
@beardalaxy fr, neither have many adults, plus those who abuse trust always come up with something new, which is why nobody is ever safe from scams
here's a cool documentary about basic psychological manipulations, it's old af but in a way it never gets old (there are English subs):
