The new stranger danger By Tricia Cammerzell

As the parent of young children in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s there was a phrase bantered around that was meant to keep children safe. The phrase was “Stranger Danger”. It was used by parents on the playground, waiting for buses, in shopping centers; really in any public place where you might be with your children. It was meant to keep children safe from predators. The message was simply “strangers are dangerous.” I did not buy it.

I am an optimist and tend to look at the bright side. I inherently believe that most people are good and intend to act accordingly.  I was not foolish with my children. They knew not to take candy from a stranger (unless it was Halloween), not to get in a car with a stranger or not to  help the most distraught unknown person find their puppy. None of that ever happened to my children. Stranger Danger was not a family philosophy by which we strictly abided. We have met some wonderful strangers while travelling with our kids who most certainly enhanced the experience. And we have been wonderful strangers to others trying to ease the parental burden of keeping their kid under control or offering to help someone in the simplest ways like letting them in front if they only have an item or two in the checkout line.

It is 2025 and I am not raising young children any longer but I do care deeply about the school age children in my care as a Preschool to Grade 8 school administrator and Stranger Danger is bigger and badder than ever before. The Bad Stranger is not lurking at the playground or in the park. The Bad Stranger is online.

With the help of easily downloadable apps strangers can easily and anonymously interact with unsuspecting teens, pre-teens and children. Some of these apps are even noted as favorites for predators to use. The individual dangerous stranger from the playground is now potentially hundreds of dangerous strangers actively communicating with underage kids with intent to do harm. It is a very scary landscape. With children spending less time playing outdoors and more time with screens, the chances of being snared by a predator are on the rise. A few seconds on your app store will reveal several apps offering video chats. Here are just a few: monkey cool, gorilla chat, yolo, camsurf, Azar, moky, omelle, coco, nowchat,  yubo, wizz, omeTV…all offer random video chats.

Kids might want to feel cool, mature or popular using one of these apps to connect with someone who will tell them they are cool, mature or popular. However, they can be predatory traps for vulnerable tweens and teens.

So what can parents do about this bigger, badder Stranger Danger.

• Please talk to your kids about the potentially dangerous situations these connections can lead to. It is scary. Describe it as such.
• Have rules about device use. Chances are you purchased the devices they are using. You should have access to them. Check their activity and learn how they can hide activity.
• Do your own research. Look for news articles having to do with online child predators. Be aware of what is happening.

I still do not believe that all strangers are dangerous but my view has shifted in recent months. I do believe that the stranger on the other end of the video chat with an eleven, twelve, thirteen year old child is not in it for their friendly chatter. They want something else, something far more nefarious and that is the new standard for Stranger Danger.

Tricia Cammerzell is Assistant Head of School for Advancement at Kent School