Someone in the game chat

What these conversations describe — gifts, secrecy, isolation from the parents, questions about a camera, school and hours alone, migration to a private channel — is the pattern of grooming a minor for sexual purposes, and although the Code does not use the word “grooming”, it covers it severely: sexual assault is aggravated when contact with the victim was made through cyberspace (Art. 134, Ley 74-25), rape is aggravated by the use of digital platforms (Art. 137, Ley 74-25), sexual harassment is aggravated when carried out by electronic means, social media or digital platforms (Art. 145 Párrafo I, Ley 74-25), supplying pornography to minors and exploitation by digital means likewise (Art. 180, Ley 74-25), and for very serious offences an attempt is punished as the completed act (Art. 14, Ley 74-25): the law does not wait for the harm to happen. The protection of the child against abuse expressly reaches the internet and every electronic route (Art. 13, Ley 136-03 — the Code for the Protection of Children and Adolescents), and anyone who reports in good faith is protected (Art. 14, Ley 136-03). Options a and d go together, and in that emotional order: the son first, then the complaint — d avoids the worst outcome, which is the boy feeling that trusting his parents cost him his game and his “friend”, and learning to hide it next time. Option b protects this week and leaves everything else unprotected: it punishes the child, not the groomer, who remains free with another twenty boys on his list. Option c destroys the live evidence and alerts the adult. Question for the group: do our children know how to tell a gaming friend from someone who asks for secrets — and would they be able to tell us without fear?