Why Parents Need to Know About 764
Last updated on March 15th, 2026 at 08:15 pm
Previously for Pediatric Safety, I have written on cybersafety issues about specific apps, including Instagram and on how predators actively try to hunt our children. Recently, my local police department reported that through October 2025, they have made 17 arrests for predators against children. What’s more, over the past three years, they reported making 49 arrests. That’s a pretty high number considering where I live (even one is too high in my opinion).
What was notable was the distances that these men reportedly traveled to meet up with their underage targets. It made me think more about this type of activity and what parents need to learn to keep their kids safe.
What is 764?
Put simply, 764 is a loosely affiliated group of people all over the world who have goals that are abhorrent to most people. Their exact number of members is unknown. At their core, they have a hatred for the human race and humanity, which is ironic as they are part of what they hate. They reject any/all moral, religious, or social values. Key among their actions is tricking minors to carry out sexual acts, to harm themselves, and even to attempt suicide, all as they watch and record it all.
Due to their nature of staying hidden in the darkest shadows of the Internet, it’s very difficult for law enforcement to identify them. One of the more successful methods to do so by is posing as a young child and waiting for one of them to attempt to lure a child into doing something they would later regret. You would probably be appalled at how quickly people reach out to these
Their reach is global, thanks to the Internet. Here are just a few stories from England, Germany, & Canada. There are plenty of other examples from around the globe.
Their goals are despicable and are a parent’s worst nightmare, as they specifically target both boys and girls of all ages (far younger than you would expect). This is important because parents need to understand that as much as parents may engage with their children about what happens online, predators are actually engaging with them online and they’re very good at what they’re trying to do.
Five Takeaways to Help Protect Your Kids
The good news is that worldwide law enforcement agencies are aware of 764 and they have made some major arrests in 2025 of their leadership. What can parents do to help prevent any predator from grooming their child? Here are five things:
- Build up your child’s self-esteem so that they are more able to avoid attempts to trick them using the techniques I described previously for Pediatric Safety.
- Get involved in what your children are doing online and stay informed about what you need to know. If you’re reading this article, you’re already doing that.
- Let your children know that if a problem does happen, they can come to you for help. I’ve known too many kids refuse to tell their parents until it’s too late, which only makes matters worse.
- Never give an order that you know won’t be followed, such as completely banning them from using technology, because if something bad does happen, they will be less likely to come to you for help because they may expect to get into trouble for disobeying you.
- Read this article from the FBI which gives great tips on what to do and what not to do to keep your kids safe online.
Sleep: The Best Gift to Your Child’s Intelligence
Last updated on March 15th, 2026 at 08:15 pm
As parents, we are faced with an onslaught of products that claim to improve our child’s learning and intelligence. Manufacturers of toys, games, and electronic devices all try to convince us that they will make all the difference in your child’s development.
It turns out that perhaps the easiest gift we can give our child’s developing brain is sleep. We all know the importance of sleep, but new research links sleep directly to the development of executive function in young kids.
Why is Executive Function Important?
You may have heard the phrase “executive function” thrown around in education circles. What does it really mean? Simply put, executive function is the mental processes that help you regulate your behavior. Things like impulse control, working memory and planning are all part of executive function.
From this description you can probably tell how important executive function is to kids performance in school, and perhaps more importantly, their functioning in later life. Kids who lack executive functioning skills often appear to be misbehaving or defiant. In reality, their brain just doesn’t yet have the skills to regulate their behavior well.
The Link to Sleep
Think back to the last night you lost a night’s sleep. How did you feel the next day? Groggy, slow-moving, perhaps even clumsy or forgetful? This is a perfect example of how sleep affects executive control. Without proper sleep even we adults are not at the top of our mental game in terms of executive function. Now imagine this same scenario in children, who have not fully developed their executive control anyway.
Past research has clearly linked sleep loss to poor executive function in elementary age children. In these groups, children who lose sleep either due to medical problems or purposefully in lab settings often experience deficits in cognitive skills and the ability to pay attention.
We are just now understanding, however, the ways in which sleep might affect executive function in very young children. The newest study on this topic looks at children as young as 12-18 months of age. While these kids have not developed a great deal of executive function skills, it is still possible to see differences.
The results of this study found that among kids who had more overall night sleep, their executive function skills were higher than among kids who had less overall night sleep. Additionally, the area that showed the most difference was executive functions that centered on impulse control.
As parents, we all know what this looks like in real-life. Your toddler skips a nap or gets to bed too late one night and they are a mess the next day. Cranky, unable to follow the simplest instructions and cries at the drop of a hat. Now multiply this by weeks or months of inadequate sleep and you can get a picture of how sleep really affects executive function.
So, forget all the fancy gadgets and electronic games. If you want your child to develop their intellect and executive function in the best possible way—just let them sleep as much as they can.
Your Child’s Sick: Do You Know if They Need Antibiotics?
Last updated on March 15th, 2026 at 08:15 pm
Antibiotics are wonderful things. Since penicillin was first found and produced in the early twentieth century and used during the Second World War, it and related antibiotics have saved countless lives and cured many an illness quickly.
Antibiotics work by inhibiting certain growth factors and processes needed by bacteria to reproduce and flourish. As with many significant discoveries, penicillin was found purely by luck when an early twentieth century biochemist was trying to grow Staphylococcus (a type of bacteria). He opened the Petri dish to find that the growth of Staphylococcus seemed to be inhibited by a white substance growing next to it; that substance was studied and named “penicillin”, and indeed, did prevent growth of bacteria. The huge toll of injured and dying soldiers during the Second World War stimulated a renewed interest in the now decades old “antibiotic”, and it was pressed into service on battle fields around the world. Its successful wartime use spread to the private sector. Although initially used to help cure life threatening illnesses, it began to be used for even minor illnesses that would begin a trend that is still going on today.
The number of antibiotics in use today and their complexity is overwhelming and new ones are produced in ever increasing numbers. The primary reasons for producing a new antibiotic are to be able to treat an increasing number of bacteria known to be producing new diseases in people. Also the old antibiotics become outmoded when the existing bacteria develop very intricate mechanisms to shield themselves from the effects of the antibiotics (resistance).
Antibiotics are ineffective against viral infections, but many times well meaning health care professionals put them into use to possibly stop the advance of the viral illness (or secondary bacterial infections). Sometimes, antibiotics are dispensed at the insistent request of the parents who, in a misguided attempt to help “cure” their child of a viral illness, wish to use the latest antibiotic. At least in Pediatrics, an overwhelming majority of illness is due to viral infections and therefore speaks against the use of an antibiotic.
When antibiotics are used indiscriminately and in large amounts the following things can occur:
This is a trend that will probably continue unless health care professionals make this information available to the public. It is important to note, as new antibiotics are developed, the cost of delivering these to the portion of the population that really need them becomes prohibitive and adds tremendously to the cost of health care in this country. The process of getting a new medicine through the testing and the FDA is both very time consuming and expensive
Most of your child’s illnesses will be viral in origin and will not need an antibiotic. In addition, some routine illnesses that children get, such as ear infections, have been scrutinized carefully by researchers and their findings suggest that antibiotics may not be needed in mild ear infections. In fact, there are times that even severe ear infections can be followed carefully without the use of antibiotics as long as the pain is controlled. Every attempt is being made to limit the use of all antibiotics in general. There are certainly situations that require an antibiotic such as strep throat and certain types of pneumonia, but your doctor will discuss the options at the time of your visit.
Think both locally and globally when it comes to the use of antibiotics: it will help your child and children all over the world.
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Editor’s Note: with temperatures fluctuating wildly, (often by as much as 20 degrees on a day to day basis), it’s no wonder we’re seeing sniffles, sneezes and coughs that just won’t go away. With the questions on every parent’s mind: “is this a cold? maybe the flu? should I take them to the doctor? do I need to keep them home from school an extra day”, it seemed the perfect time to re-share this Dr Joe classic from 2010 (Antibiotics…Not Always the Answer).
How To Avoid Accidentally Locking Your Kids In The Car
Last updated on March 15th, 2026 at 08:15 pm
Mornings can be hectic with little kids, right? There are breakfasts to be made, lunches to be prepared, and kids to be dressed, not including preparing yourself for your workday too. When all that is taken care of, you still have to get the kids into the car, along with whatever you need to take along for work that day.
And don’t forget the squabbling over rain coats, bickering over seating arrangements (but Mommy, I want to sit in his car seat today!) and then navigating the frustrations of rush hour traffic on the way to begin your day.
And there is the big chance that you forgot something very important.
It is very easy to be a distracted parent. There are so many curve-balls be tossed your way at once it can be hard to make heads and tails of the situation. Perhaps the biggest fear parents have in their morning routine is if they left something important at home. Did I grab enough diapers? Where’s the wallet? Do I have my phone? My keys? Did I make sure to turn off the stove?
And then there’s the remote possibility of accidentally locking your kids in the car.
Believe it or not, this kind of mental blunder is not uncommon to even the best parents. Most parents assume this would never happen to them… until it does. Many times local locksmiths are called in to help open the doors of a car and liberate the tots inside.
The following are a few tips that parents have learned the hard way that can help you remember not to lock your kids inside a car:
No. 1 — ANY TIME you leave your vehicle, make sure you ALWAYS have your kids with you
While this may seem obvious, what this means is if you need to hop out to grab something really quick from the supermarket, take the kiddos with you! If your one-year old that has trouble sleeping has fallen asleep in the backseat, and you desperately need diapers, you have a choice to make – and neither option includes leaving him in the back seat. In many states this is required by law, especially in those states where the temperatures can get pretty high (such as Florida). By making this a habit, you will avoid leaving them in the car, and locking them in the car by accident.
No. 2 — Don’t leave your Keys where the kiddos can get them
Even if you are in the comfort of your home. The auto lock feature on the key fob makes it easy for even a small child to secure the vehicle with themselves inside. Spare keys are a must, and please don’t make the mistake of putting the spare key on the same ring with your primary key. Finding a competent locksmith to create a spare is far easier than having this job done at the dealers.
No. 3 — Pre-arranged Communications with your child’s caregiver
Make sure you are in constant communication with your child’s caregiver and that they will call you if your child does not show up at day care. Parents have been in such a flurry, they have left their child in the backseat of the car as they head to work. These are the absolute worst lock-ins as they can be potentially fatal. There are “reminder” smartphone apps that require check-ins – if your child does not arrive at the caregiver’s location, a pre-programmed alert will be sent.
No. 4 — Check the Seat
Yes, a simple routine whenever you enter or exit your car should become second nature to a concerned parent. The same way you can check to make sure your keys, cellphone and wallet/purse are in your possession, you can flip your head to the backseat and make sure your little one is where he should be, Place a sign on the dashboard if it will help you remember.
No. 5— Have a Locksmith on Speed Dial
Despite taking every precaution accidents can and do happen, so have a plan in place for the “just in case” scenario, keeping in mind that the harshness of the situation will ultimately determine your response. If it is at the height of the heat of the day, 80 degrees and climbing and your child is in the car, you will want immediate action. Call the police, ambulance, and attempt to break a window for entry into the car.
If it is cool outside, and your child hasn’t been in the car for long, you may want a less drastic option, such as calling your local locksmith. Locksmiths are typically on-call 24/7 and will have no problem showing up onsite to spring your tiny tot from their imprisonment. If you need help finding one near you, and you are in the U.S., you can use this site for help in finding a local one near you.
In Conclusion — you must always be vigilant when it comes to car safety and your child. Parents tend to spend a lot of time researching the perfect car seat for their child in the event of a car accident, God forbid. However, they don’t really think that they’ll ever accidentally leave their child in the car. They don’t think they’ll ever be that sort of parent who could be so neglectful.
The truth is that it so easy to make the mistake of accidentally locking your child in the car. With the off chance of that happening, parents must remain vigilant and create a plan to prevent this situation ever happening. Take these tips to heart.
