CHILDREN used to be taught about the dangers of strangers in parks and on the streets, offering sweets or trying to lure them into cars.

Parents could at least rest easy when their children were at home, safely reading or playing in their bedrooms.

Unfortunately, the dangers no longer end when the children come home.

Online predators can reach out to children through their smartphones, through their social media accounts and through online video games.

The danger was frighteningly close to home in 2014 when 14-year-old Breck Bednar was lured to 18-year-old Lewis Daynes’ flat in Grays.

They met through online gaming, and when Daynes managed to persuade the younger boy to visit him in Grays, he brutally murdered him.

It is encouraging that children are being taught about the dangers of interacting with strangers online from a young age.

Essex Police and the Dot Com Children’s Foundation are visiting they do not know online. Of course, parents need to be aware of the dangers too.

If you wouldn’t allow your children to hang out with strangers down the local park, why would you be okay with letting them chat to people they do not know online?

Vigilante groups have lured a surprising amount of paedophiles to meetups in Essex recently, by pretending to be children online.

So we know the danger is out there. Make sure your kids know too.