All parents want to protect their children from predators, but how do you keep your kids safe when you don't know how to spot one? Anyone can be a child molester, so identifying one can be difficult — especially because most child molesters are initially trusted by the children they abuse. Read on to learn which behaviors and traits are red flags, what situations to avoid, and how to deter child molesters from targeting your child.

Someone who is a pedophile is not always a child molester, but pedophilia itself is formally diagnosed as a psychiatric disorder. A pedophile may not sexually abuse children themselves but may view child pornography which is also a severe criminal offence and helps to maintain the cycle of child sexual abuse. An adult who is good at interacting and understanding children is not a pedophile by default. Wrongly accusing someone of pedophilia can cause severe depressions and social anxieties, and falls under false allegation of sexual abuse, a form of slander.[1]