Frank Rodriguez, 8, takes what he has learned on the street to the Internet — in either place, he doesn't talk to strangers.
The third-grader at Mountain View Elementary School told a group of grown-ups Monday about how a man once offered to buy his cousin a soda.
"I said, 'Hey, Cousin, don't go with him because you know something could happen. He could kill you or something like that,' " Rodriguez said.
When asked who he'll talk to on the Internet, Rodriguez replied, "Only to my friends."
Rodriguez already applies the messages about Internet safety being taught by Utah first lady Mary Kaye Huntsman and former first lady Jacalyn Leavitt. Both were at a press conference to spread the word about a new Web site, iKeepSafe.org.
Leavitt said parents need to help protect their children from child predators on the Internet.
"Their naivete puts them at risk," she said.
But statistics show many parents don't know what their children are looking at on the Internet. More than half of parents in a national survey said they do not have or do not know if they have software on their computer that monitors their teenagers' online activities.
"There is nothing more important than the safety of our children," Huntsman said.
That's why Huntsman is supporting the efforts of the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, with big-name industry sponsors like Adobe Systems Inc., America Online, Dell, Intel and Yahoo!.
"We recognize the growing threat of Internet predators and online dangers," said Convergys spokeswoman Natalie Hooper.
Monday's press event wrapped up with Huntsman reading to David Lloyd's third-grade class from Leavitt's book, "Faux Paw the Techno Cat: Adventures in the Internet."
Bigger-than-life versions of Faux Paw and McGruff the Crime Dog provided the nonverbal cues to messages in the book that include:
Keep your personal information protected.
Don't meet in person with anyone you've met on the Internet.
Tell a parent or trusted adult about things you see on the computer that make you feel uncomfortable.
E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com