Parents warned of online bullying

Parents were urged today to supervise their children's internet access as research revealed large numbers of primary school pupils are becoming victims of cyberbullying.

One in five of 10 and 11-year-olds say they have been subjected to taunts, threats and insults via the internet and mobile phones, according to a poll by the Anti-Bullying Alliance.

More than a fifth said they did not know how to protect themselves against cyberbullying, with six in 10 saying they thought a good way to stop cyberbullying would be for parents to know how to deal with it.

The survey, commissioned to mark National Anti-Bullying Week, reveals that two fifths of the more than 200 10 and 11-year-olds surveyed said they used social networking sites "sometimes", while almost a fifth (19 per cent) said they used them "a lot", despite many sites specifying that users should be over 13.

A second survey of more than 1,000 parents found that almost a quarter said they had, or would, allow their child of 10 or under to have unsupervised access to the internet on a home computer.

Almost four in 10 said they had, or would, allow a child aged 10 or under to have their own mobile phone, while one in 10 said they would allow a child under eight to have one.

While almost nine in 10 parents believe that cyberbullying is as serious as other bullying, more than half said they had not talked to their children about how to protect themselves.