In this day and age, cyber bullying is a REAL THING and it is downright scary for a parent of a Tween. Everywhere you turn, there's another social media site beckoning your impressionable Tween to tweet, share, post, video or comment on photos and statuses. Tweens of today are different than the Tweens of the 80s and 90s: they "talk" (in silence) via IMs, texts and in 140 words or less. They don't know the trauma of having to deal with answering machines or phone cords that stretched to the dining room for a little bit of privacy.

And, as a parent who has a pretty decent handle on the various social media outlets (although, admittedly, I have NO IDEA what Tumblr is all about. Or Vine, for that matter and I still stink at Tweeting....), I wrestle with wanting to protect my young Tween from the dangers of cyber bulling while still teaching him how to use social media responsibly.

I wonder to myself: When should I let him get a social media account? And, I also ask myself: which one is the safest? What platform can I monitor closely enough while letting him have some freedom to experiment with social media?

So, my questions to you:

Do you allow your child to have social media accounts?

If so, which ones? Why?

Are there social media accounts that you've forbidden for your Tween or Teen? Again, why?