IT is right that parents should be concerned about social networking sites like Facebook and the ability for paedophiles to groom their children on them.

Yesterday Facebook rejected calls to place a "panic button" on all of its pages despite calls from various children’s charities.

Child welfare groups want the button on every page to allow users to instantly report anyone they suspect of improper behaviour.

Facebook currently has a link where people can report abuse or concerns about other users to the website which campaigners say simply doesn’t go far enough.

One child protection agency has even said it had received 252 complaints about Facebook during the first three months of the year with 40 per cent of them about the potential "grooming" of children.

Facebook is an extremely popular site used by millions, in particular a younger generation.

It is right that children get the fullest protection when using the internet.

Some say that a panic button may be open to abuse causing lots of unnecessary investigations or, more worryingly, used maliciously against someone.

But we believe it is vital in this modern age we live in, where paedophiles will use any means necessary to get at children, that whatever measures can be put in place should be put in place immediately.

Parents also have their part to play. Children won’t want their parents to have access to their Facebook page but adults should ask themselves if they would allow their children to openly communicate with strangers so freely in any other way.

Perhaps the only solution is to not allow your children to use Facebook at all.