Family Life

05.09.11 | Sarah Harnisch

 Parents are increasingly ignoring the age restrictions on some social media sites. A survey from Liberty Mutual's responsibility project finds 17-percent of parents in the U.S. would let their pre-teen children use sites like Twitter and Facebook.  That's more than twice the number of parents who said it would be ok in last year's survey. There were limits to their freedom though--  most parents surveyed say kids under 18 should not be allowed to manage their own accounts, and a third say they monitor their kids when they're online.  Nearly half limit how much time their kids spend online or texting.  More than half of parents want teachers and schools to crack down on cyberbullying, but most parents also say it's their responsibility to protect their own kids from cyberbullying.