COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Florida woman was arrested after officials say she tried to instruct a 10-year-old girl to kill an infant.
The woman, 36-year-old Tara Alexis Sykes, is accused of messaging the child through the gaming platform Roblox in hopes of instructing the girl to kill a 2-month-old infant.
Police reports say the 10-year-old dropped the infant on the kitchen floor, causing the infant to suffer a fractured skull. He is expected to survive.
Sykes is charged with attempted homicide.
This incident serves as a reminder that online video games can connect people from around the world and parents need to keep an eye on who their kids are interacting with.
“We really ask parents to shift the focus to tricky people or tricky behaviors. And so that means even that someone that a child knows really well or considers to be a friend can show tricky behaviors online," said Caitlin Tully, the training supervisor at the Center for Family Safety and Healing at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Parents can play the "what if" game to identify bad situations and what they can do if they're in them.
Tully shared that the most important thing a parent can do is establish three safe adults that kids can talk to besides their parents.
“Sometimes kids may not be comfortable talking to a parent, but if you can identify a teacher, another family member, an older teenager who has to at least be over the age of 16… that they can talk to about this and that knows what to do if children give them that information," Tully said.
Some warning signs include not being interested in their favorite things, increasing screen time or turning off their devices when adults are around. Another thing Tully mentioned is if they have big reactions to screen time limits.
“Of course, children are not always in favor of new screen time limits because they want to stay connected. But we know we have to balance that with safety,” Tully said. “If they have anger or big emotions or frustration, that can be a sign that they're connected to something online that may not be healthy for them.”
For more information on how to set digital boundaries for your kids and to start those conversations, Tully has a blog on Nationwide Children's website which can be read here.
10TV reached out to Roblox about reports of new child safety changes, including parental oversight features. The company shared an email sent out to parents about plans to let guardians link their account to a child's account. The goal is to connect parents to their child's activities on the account.
In a statement, a Roblox spokesperson told 10TV, “The updates that were shared via email are part of Roblox's commitment to making the platform one of the safest online environments for our users, particularly the youngest users. We're excited to share more information next month."