Hey, man, leave them kids alone!

While it may not be my child in the firing line, in a few years it may be my grandchild, niece or even the child of a friend. While I have continuously said that parents need to be more vigilant about what their children are doing and where they are, with the influences of social media, the predator may be in our houses, chatting to our children on Facebook and the like.

This means we need to parent differently. We are now mothers, fathers and cyber police – all in defence of our children. When will we begin to have honest conversations about young women (children, in fact)? The expectation from society is that teachers would act as parents away from home to keep watch over the young girls.

While we all had a teenage crush – I was hopelessly in love with Ntando the artist growing up – our ability to feel romantic love develops during adolescence. It’s a natural part of growing up to develop romantic feelings and sexual attractions to others – but the dangers that lurk outweigh the cuteness of the liaison. This is taken advantage of by men more experienced, older and at times with the financial muscle that young girls find totally irresistible.

This, no matter how normalised in our townships, is paedophilia. We cannot speak about this behaviour without addressing parents who lean on their daughters for financial support or relief, knowing that their children are being exploited by older men.

These very children are by proxy being pimped out by their parents, often mothers! In some child-headed homes, these girls seek to provide for their siblings.

Can we be just a little more protective of our children to prevent them from falling into the clutches of these smooth-talking, well-dressed men with financial clout and sleek cars?

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