Toy company Mattel has launched Parents Place, a BarbieGirls.com area educating parents about online play and safety, empowering them with settings and controls appropriate for their children's online play in the virtual world.

Parents Place includes several useful and interactive tools for parents, such as "B Smart Pact," a serious of questions and scenarios for parents and kids to complete together. The "B Smart Pact" activity guides families through a conversation about protecting one's privacy online, chatting safely, online etiquette/being nice, and length of time spent playing online. It also allows parents to input individual rewards and consequences for rules, as well as write their own personal family rules.

Since BarbieGirls.com introduced Parents Account, a feature allowing parents to control their child's chat settings, over 250,000 parents have created accounts. According to Mattel, the site has so far picked up over 14 million registered users worldwide.

Said Mattel Brands Girls Division's general manager and SVP Chuck Scothon: "Since its launch as the first-ever global virtual world introduced exclusively for girls, BarbieGirls.com leads in delivering safe and fun experiences for kids, and now leads in offering an unparalleled experience for parents. Online content is today's new toy, and we believe it is vital to inform and equip parents with the tools and information they need to become familiar with the new online playground. We want parents to be supportive of where and how their child plays, particularly as BarbieGirls.com has recently moved to a subscription model."