Teenager signs contract to stay off Facebook

Where self-restraint doesn't work, perhaps a legally-binding contract will. At least that's what 14-year-old Rachel Baier thought when she asked her father, Paul, to draw up a legal form requiring her to go from February 4 to June 26 without logging on to Facebook.

There's a sweetener, too. If Rachel makes it April, $50 hits her bank account. All the way to June and another $150 follows.

The motivation behind this legal handcuffing is, apparently, all on the part of the daughter, who became tired of wasting time on the social networking site.

But Mr Baier isn't the only parent introducing legal stipulations to curb a teenager's digital life. Last month Lisa Markwell wondered at the mother who gave her 13-year-old son an iPhone for Christmas, with an 18 point contract attached (including: "No porn. Search the web for information you would openly share with me. If you have a question about anything, ask a person – preferably me or your father.")

Are contracts a parenting technique you'd give a try?