A former law enforcement officer and child safety advocate has shared crucial insights into the protective measures she implements for her own children. Drawing from her vast experience, Kristi McVee has outlined three key restrictions she maintains to ensure her children’s safety.
Kristi McVee, a child protection educator based in East Bunbury, Western Australia, took to TikTok to share her wisdom. She firmly believes that younger children should not use sleepers, emphasizing the importance of this precaution.
Additionally, Kristi advises parents against placing blind trust in others. She also stresses the necessity of closely monitoring their children’s online activities, warning against allowing unsupervised internet access for young ones.
Having previously served as a child abuse detective, Kristi’s insights are grounded in her professional experiences. In her role, she conducted interviews with children who had suffered abuse, offering her a profound understanding of the risks involved.
Kristi revealed that many abusers were often individuals within or close to the family circle, underscoring the need for vigilance. Her video, which resonated widely and garnered 430,000 views, begins with her introducing herself, “Hi, my name’s Kristi,” setting the stage for her valuable advice.
Kristi has written a book called Operation KidSafe – A detectives guide to child abuse prevention
In the video, which was viewed 430,000 times, she said: ‘Hi, my name’s Kristi.
‘I was a child abuse detective and a specialist child interviewer, so I interviewed children who had been abused.’
Kristi, who served as a police officer for ten years and has written a book, Operation KidSafe – A detectives guide to child abuse prevention, then listed her rules for parents to follow.
She said: ‘Number one is blindly trust anyone.’
‘We need to remember that our children’s safety is our responsibility to look after them.
‘We can’t just trust anyone – even if nothing happened to you with that person as a child, unfortunately it doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t happen to your child.’
Kristi then shared her second opinion – that she would never let a young child attend a sleepovers at someone else’s home.
She said: ‘Again, children are vulnerable.
‘They don’t always have the language, the skills or the confidence to help themselves or to get help if something happens.’
She said that ‘sleepovers are a no no until children get older’.
Kristi then shared her third rule, which relates to letting your young child surf the internet on devices like the iPad while on their own.
The social media user said that this could lead to kids being exposed to things they shouldn’t be, bullied, or, in worse scenarios, even groomed.
She explained: ‘Number three is allowing your child unrestricted, unsupervised access to the internet.
‘We know this, but yet we use it as a babysitting device.
‘I’m not saying don’t give them access, I’m saying restrict it and supervise it. It should never be a free for all.
‘For young children under 8-10 years old, they should be sitting in the lounge room with parents around.
‘They shouldn’t be on their devices in their room.’
Kristi, who has 26,000 followers, regularly posts videos about how parents can keep their children safe
Kristi, who has 26,000 followers, regularly posts videos where she shares her take on child safety and her own do’s and don’ts for parents.
In later videos she added that children of all ages should be educated in their body safety rights.
This means that children know they have the right to feel safe at all times and that no one has permission to touch their body.
She clarified that – with regards what age a child should be allowed to go on a sleepover – it ‘depended on the child and their confidence’.
She said: ‘I will admit that I allowed my daughters to have sleepovers but it was a vetting process.
‘My daughter was a very confident child. She knew her protective behavours. She knew her rights.
‘She had access to a telephone to call me. She knew she could come home at any time.’
Kristi added that 90 per cent of sexual abuse done to children is done by someone they know.
She said this is because ‘children are inherently vulnerable and we are trusting people’.
