Is Your Teen Online Dating?
If your teen is online dating, would you ever know it? More importantly, is online dating safe, especially for a teen? The answer may surprise you. When it comes to online dating, most people think of sites like Match or Eharmony, where people pay a monthly fee in order to post a profile and search the profiles of potential mates. However, teen online dating typically doesn’t involve sites like these. Teens are more likely to use free sites like Myspace, or Facebook, in order to find potential dates. The issue with these sites is that they aren’t moderated or regulated as well as pay dating sites are and the teens using them may be tricked by predators or people lying about who they are and what they’re about. Teen online dating is still probably the best way to meet people, however, and it can be safe provided the parents pay close attention to what they’re doing and who they’re talking to.
What Is Dating?
The first thing you should do is sit down with your teen to discuss dating and teen online dating. What is dating to them? What do they expect on a date? What do they expect to get out of a date? When teenagers hit their puberty years, they can often feel awkward and may do all kinds of things in order to feel accepted. Therefore, you want to discuss peer pressure with your teen and tell them never to do or go anywhere they normally wouldn’t, no matter what. As long as they have a clear head about what they’re doing and who they want to do it with, online teen dating is completely safe, as long as your teen is aware of some safety measures, such as how to tell if someone’s lying about who they are.
Safety Measures
If your teen is online dating using one of the free sites, such as Myspace or Facebook, make sure they’re aware that some people may post pictures that aren’t really them. Their profiles may all be fake, too. Therefore, they should first talk to the person through email if they are interested in them. Throw some questions at the person to make sure their profiles match what they say. From email, and this is after it seems a match has been made, a phone discussion should follow. With teen online dating, a physical meeting should only come after a period of getting to know the person, and they should always meet in a public place with a lot of people. Make sure your teen also tells someone where they’re going to be at all times. With these safety measures firmly in your teen’s mind, teen online dating will hopefully lead them to a love connection.
Teen online dating is a great way to meet other likeminded people. Not only that, but you get to know the person on the inside before you meet in person, making it more likely that the person will be interested in your teen, and not just a puberty driven sexual experience. As a parent, you should be involved with your teen’s dating, whether online or not, to make sure they stay safe and don’t do anything they shouldn’t.
