Couple focuses at online harm and children

A Wellington couple is in Levin this week to share their journey about protecting kids from online harm. Rob and Zareed Cope have made a documentary outlining their experiences and how they are protecting their own children from online harm, especially pornography in Our Kids Online; Porn, Predators and How to Keep Them Safe .

They said the aim of the documentary is to bring parents round to the fact that their primary school aged children are being harmed by exposure to pornography and child sex predators online. Most parents are in denial, they said.

“Some parents believe the myth, that because their kids are good, and they are good parents . . . their children will be just naturally immune to pornography. And this is not true. Pornography is an equal opportunity offender. Children are biologically wired to be interested in nudity — they’re wired to learn how to be adults.”

They said this behaviour is supported by New Zealand school statistics, where over 300,000 pornrelated searches are blocked each month; figures from Pornhub, the megalith of online porn, show a 3-5pm rise in viewings on Pornhub every weekday.

The couple will be speaking at a

Kahui Ako event, aimed at local schools.

Today at 3.30 they will speak to teachers and at 6pm to parents. Both events will be at te Takeretanga o Kura-haupo¯. At 1pm tomorrow they will be available to parents in Foxton at te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom.

The documentary can be hired and more information is online at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/ ourkidsonline