#child-safety

#child-safety

Picture the scene: It's Christmas morning and your child is happily chatting with the AI-enabled teddy bear you got them when you hear it telling them about sexual kinks, where to find the knives, and how to light matches. This is not a hypothetical scenario. As we head into the holiday season, consumer watchdogs at the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) tested four AI toys and found that, while some are worse than others at veering off their limited guardrails, none of them are particularly safe for impressionable young minds.

Every two and a half minutes, a child is reported missing in the UK. The reasons are complex, but the risks can be grave. Myths about what to do when a child goes missing persist and can delay crucial action at the moment it's most needed. The Independent and the charity Missing People are aiming to raise 165,000 to launch SafeCall, a free new service to help the 70,000 children reported missing each year find support and safety, no matter what.

Forcing children to accept unwanted affection can send a harmful message, according to Karen Days, the former president of the Center for Family Safety and Healing at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Days explained that this kind of forced affection can teach children the wrong lesson: that people they know are always allowed to touch them. She pointed out that while parents often emphasize "stranger danger," they don't always stress that familiar adults must also respect personal boundaries.

My son was very excited to hear that the chatbot thought Ronaldo was the better soccer player, said Farah Nasser, a former journalist and broadcaster.

"I feel very suspicious of the area now," echoed Ramirez, 40, who has a 14-year-old daughter. "We know that many kids tell their moms, 'Mama, we want to go to the park now,' and then the kids go alone. What will happen if there's a predator? The kids don't know how to defend themselves. We thought it was safe, but I don't feel secure anymore."

Here's how it works: First, plug the Sleek Socket cover into the top plug on your outlet. A thin white wire leads from the socket cover to a power strip, which is where all of your plugs will go before being tucked away behind a small appliance, large piece of furniture, or another item. Every Sleek Socket includes an adhesive kit to securely fasten the white wire to the wall and create a neat, streamlined look (and reviewers say it's renter-friendly).

James Moyles (33) was hit and thrown into the air, but four-year-old Cróia did not suffer any significant injuries

5. A potty ladder for helping kids independently use the potty at home. Now they can climb up the porcelain throne like the mature kids they are and you can save your poor back muscles from hoisting them up there.

Something that often takes me by surprise is how people react to finding out I was homeless growing up. They have a picture of what homelessness should look like, and my family and I don't fit into it. But people like me hide in plain sight. They're your neighbours until suddenly they're not. They're everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time.

Meta is facing a court fight over documents and testimony in a landmark child safety case in New Mexico. In two recent motions, the New Mexico Attorney General's office alleged that Meta has refused to fully produce internal records about its AI chatbots, which reportedly engaged children and teenagers in sexualized conversations. The state also said Meta declined to consent to a subpoena for former company researcher Jason Sattizahn, who claimed that the company's legal team interfered with internal research on youth safety.

Because of work, we had to move about four hours away. Since then, we have felt increasingly isolated. I tried to call weekly, visit often and send gifts for every holiday. About a year in, I realized we were initiating all the contact and tried a little experiment. We stopped calling them. It took more than eight weeks for anyone to contact us. His mother calls his other siblings who live elsewhere every week, but not us.

I think this is more controversial or unique than I thought it was, but my take is basically: If you're watching my kid, you can do it your way,