Today I want to talk about grooming. What is grooming?
Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, abuse, exploit them.
Anybody can be a groomer, no matter their social status, gender, age, race.
Child grooming refers to an act of deliberately establishing an emotional connection with a child to prepare the kid for child abuse.
There are 6 stages of sexual grooming
- Targeting a victim (the child)
- Gaining trust
- Filling a need
- Isolating the kid
- Sexual contact, inappropriate touching
- Maintaining control over the child, situation.
If you are a parent, make sure your child is protected from predators. Make sure that you have control over their social media network. A groomer can use the same games, apps, sites as young people.
Whether in person or online, groomers can use tactics like
Buying gifts
Giving the child attention
Taking the young person on holidays
Pretending to be younger.
Any child can be in danger or risk of being groomed. Boys, girls can be groomed.
If you know someone at risk of being groomed or have any concerns, always contact the local child protection services or the police.
Source (NSPCC)
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