Parental Guide. In our world we often hear: "Be safe online, do not go online without parental permission and Internet safety." We feel it every day, it's the world we live in now. Younger children use social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and many other sites. According to an online survey [www.statisticbrain.com/social-networking-statistics], 58% of people have some form of social interaction online. and 73% of teens have social media. [http://www.netsmartz.org/safety/statistics]! This leads many adults to worry about their children, and why shouldn't they? So many adults say they should have more control over what their children do on media sites! It's a scary thing to think about. social media allows you to talk to anyone, so who might your kids talk to. Yet this isn't the whole story, we all know the internet is scary, but should we really have parents and guardians watching over their children's backs after everything they do online? Let's just take a second and think about this; Your child will grow up to be an adult with their own life and their own computers. they won't let you watch their every move, they will grow up and wouldn't it be nice to give them a little more trust online and know that if something happens they can handle it. Also, if you don't want your child to be in any danger online, you shouldn't have let them know what the Internet was, because no matter what you do in life, offline or online, there are dangers, it's just the way it goes. And finally those kids need to be able to do their own thing and make their own mistakes, if you sit there and watch them as a puppy, then what happens, years later, when something happens and they have no idea what to do. T... in the middle of the paper... that you should stand behind them waiting for them to mess up. It's a balancing act and it's up to you, the parent, to decide which is best. In conclusion, social media can be a scary place to think about. But they need not worry, there are privacy laws, locking tools on laptops, and many social media sites take precautions to ensure everyone is safe in their domain. So next time you talk to your child about online safety, remember, it's okay to give them a little trust on Facebook or any other similar website. Just make sure you tell them how to be safe and prevent bad things from happening. Because you won't be there to help them forever. Works Cited www.statisticbrain.com/social-networking-statistics http://www.netsmartz.org/safety/statistics http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family /net_safety.html