If you are like the majority of Americans, you may not even answer your phone if you don’t recognize the name or number that pops up on your caller ID. If an unfamiliar number calls your cell phone, you may hop on the internet to do a reverse phone number search. Not only can this reverse look up service help settle your curiosity for those who call, don’t leave a message, and hang up, but it may serve an important role in teaching children the dangers of talking to strangers.
A quick and easy search will allow you to teach your children just how trust worthy a strange person may be.
For example, you are home alone with your child and have enlisted the help of an online classified ad to sell your old car. A man named “John Smith” e-mails you and says he would love for you to call him so he can possibly come to your place and look at the car. When “John Smith” gives you his phone number, you run a quick reverse search and find this number to be listed to a “Jeff Jones”. Is “John Smith” really who he says he is?
This is a great opportunity to inform your child of the dangers of talking to strangers. While it may seem scary, this opportunity will help you to explain to your child that not everyone is a nice guy and if something seems not right to tell a trusted adult. If you decide to call the man back about the vehicle, you may decide to take extra precautions about meeting to see the vehicle. For instance, you may want your husband to be home or to meet this man in a public place with the car.
If you have a slightly older child, reverse cell phone look up may be your favorite new tool. With children constantly on social media websites, AIM, etc… you can never be too sure as to who your child (who is convinced they are an adult and know everything) is talking too. You’ve heard the horror stories of young girls meeting up with child luring predators or being unwilling taken from their home by men who become instantly obsessed with them through a simple internet chat.
Don’t let your child become a statistic. If you suspect something is not right, look up numbers that are coming across their cell phones. If something does not seem right or if you are encountering names of “friends” you have never heard of before, ask your child. This is not an invasion of privacy; it is only looking out for their safety. Sometimes kids need to be reminded of stranger dangers as they get older.
Reverse phone number look up technology can teach little one’s the importance of not talking to strangers and help keep your big kids safe from the risks that are associated with their love of cell phone and the internet.
Veronica Davis is a freelance writer, WAHM and internet business columnist. She recommends using reverse phone number look up technology to its full advantage for helping keep children safe.
This is a great idea. Wonder if we can get the reverse caller service down here in Australia. Does anyone know?