THREE girls have gone missing and are thought to be heading to Syria to join IS after being ruthlessly groomed online by terrorists.

Twitter is now facing a backlash accused of allowing the vulnerable teenagers to be brainwashed in their bedrooms.

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MPs have had no success in drawing Twitter bosses to the table to discuss filtering and blocking internet porn, so it’s safe to assume we can expect them to do nothing about online terrorism grooming.

Being practical, the manpower required to adequately police the social media site clearly makes it not an option.

But that is no comfort to the families and friends of these so-called Jihadi Brides. Reports say the online grooming is graphic, pictures of beheadings and the like, so one would assume these girls know what they’re getting into.

Except they don’t, because they’re only kids and graphic videos mean very little to a generation that has been brought up on violent video games.

Watching something on a screen in the comfort of your bedroom with mum preparing dinner downstairs and your younger siblings squabbling next door, may seem dangerous and exciting. And to a second or third generation Muslim girl who spends her life trying to understand her religion whilst living in a society that often opposes it, you can understand how some make easy pickings.

As a parent, I know only too well how hard it is to keep tabs on teenagers. As soon as puberty strikes, that once bubbly, open child who thought you were the centre of its universe, suddenly views you as the enemy.

All children rebel, it’s a vital part of growing up and becoming an individual, but when it involves endangering lives then action has to be taken.

Every parent of British citizens who have gone to Syria to fight have said that they had no idea that their children had become radicalised. I never knew my son, at 13, was hanging around street corners in the dead of night, swigging beer because I thought he was in bed and had no reason to suspect otherwise. These things happen in normal, loving families and kids don’t always have a reason to escape Mum and Dad.

What they don’t see are the potential dangers and consequences of their actions and that’s where we have a duty to point them out.

As a Muslim parent, I would be sitting my children down and telling them the true ‘no-holds barred’ story of what is the inevitable fate of a Jihadi bride and those who go to Syria to fight for this barbaric group. Many youngsters disregard the freedom they have in this country, but no-one wants them to learn that lesson the hard way. Having pointed out the facts, all a parent can do is hope and pray that the child has enough respect to listen.