Reasons to avoid allowing children to have sleepovers or use an iPad unsupervised

A former police officer and child safety expert has revealed the top three things she never lets her own children do. 

Kristi McVee, a child protector educator from East Bunbury, western Australia, recently shared her stance on a controversial topic on TikTok. She expressed her firm belief that she would never allow younger children to have sleepers.

She added that parents should not ‘blindly’ trust anyone. And they should never grant their young children unsupervised access to the Internet.

In the video, Kristi, who used to work as a child abuse detective, explained that she used to interview children who had been abused.

And she said often perpetrators were within families or close to them. 

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 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’.