“Molly, can I add you on Facebook?” Working at a summer recreation program, I was shocked the first time I was asked this by one of the kids. My initial response was an immediate no, followed by a question of my own, “aren’t you a little young to have a Facebook?” “No, my mom helped me make it,” they answered, leaving me to pick my jaw up off the floor.

I soon realized that this question would plague me over the six weeks I fulfilled my counselor duties. The recreation program only allows children up to the age of fourteen, so it would be logical to think only a few would have accounts, since the terms of service for Facebook states that a user must be at least thirteen to join. I couldn’t believe just how wrong I was. The youngest to ask me to be their “friend” was around nine. When I told her about the terms of service, she looked up at me with her big brown eyes and begged me not to report her. She was a Facebook junkie who hadn't even hit her preteen years yet.

Apparently millions of children under the required age of 13 have Facebook accounts, and as avid Facebook users can tell you, many millions of teenagers over the age of thirteen have accounts. Reading about these children made me wonder: do their parents know what they are doing on those sites?

Cyberbullying is no joke. The past few years have been filled with cases of children or teens being ridiculed on Facebook or other social networking sites. If parents monitored their children’s social media use, maybe some of the violence could be stopped. I have heard of many cases of fake profiles, obscene comments, rumors, doctored pictures, and other terrible things kids think of. High school students may think it’s funny to torment their peers, but the joke is really on the parents. I would hope parents don’t want children who cyberbully others. If they take the time to monitor their children they may be able to prevent great pain to the victims. As for the victim’s parents, they could realize what their child was going through, and start getting help.

In a study about this topic by comScore and NDP, 69% of parents with children between the ages of 10-17 admitted to being concerned about dangers to their children in the social media world, but only about a third of those concerned monitored their children’s activity daily. Parents should be more aware of the cyber world they let their children be a part of. Teenagers spend hours on Facebook, reading statuses, accessing links, viewing pictures, who knows what they are being exposed to. Well, I believe their parents should. Facebook is not harmless. What happens online can follow young users for the rest of their lives. Wouldn't you want to know what cyber-baggage your child has?