Myrtle Beach Police Department to hold educational courses on risky child behavior
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — The Myrtle Beach Police Department is working to help parents and guardians look out for risky teen behavior warning signs through a weeklong course.
The department wants to educate and provide resources for families on a variety of tough topics.
Myrtle Beach Police Department recently began accepting sign-ups for its Guardian Academy. It will cover a variety of topics like internet safety and mental health.
“You have kids that are younger, they’re going to be eight, nine, ten that know about a lot more than I would know when I was eight, nine and ten,” Cpl. Chris Starling, spokesperson for MBPD said.
The Guardian Academy, hosted by MBPD, is a free week-long course. It will run from June 24- 28 at the Myrtle Beach Train Depot. The two-hour course will start at 6 p.m. each night.
The academy will cover topics like social media, cyber bullying, human trafficking and suicide awareness and prevention. Starling said some of the topics can be uncomfortable to talk about with your kids but it’s necessary.
“It’s a lot of the things that our students face every day that the parents or guardians are really not too sure of sometimes,” Starling said. “It’s a great way to get a bunch of information to be able to talk to your kids, to build a good, healthy relationship. And so, you have an open communication with them.”
Starling said they want to educate all guardians like parents, teachers, coaches and daycare workers.
He said many parents believe they know everything going on with their kids, but kids know a lot more than a parent would typically think.
Martina Herriott is a single mom to four boys and attended the Guardian Academy in 2019.
“I thought that I was the perfect parent until I did attend this class and I’m like some of the things that they were saying to look for, I saw some of those signs in my own kids, but you wouldn’t know unless you go to the class to know what to look for because kids hide things like very well,” Herriott said.
Herriott said since she took the class five years ago, times have changed with the internet and AI. She encourages others to sign up and gain the extra tools.
“This class helped like give me the resources to monitor their cell phone,” Herriott said. “Know what they’re doing, who they’re with, where they’re hanging out, like it’s really hard raising sons.”
Starling said to sign up as soon as you can because space is limited.
Click here to sign up and learn more information.
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Adrianna Lawrence is a multimedia journalist at News13. Adrianna is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and joined the News13 team in June 2023 after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2023. Keep up with Adrianna on Instagram, Facebook, and X, formerly Twitter. You can also read more of her work, here.
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