Young people today can be very, very Internet savvy. Look at that teenage girl who created a website of MySpace templates, and became a millionaire! My point is, that since young people have access and know-how online, they have a huge advantage to, say, me, when I was young. I admit as a kid/teen, I kept herps with no info other than what the pet stores gave me. I lost an iguana when I was younger, because he burnt on the hot-rock that my pet store told me to use.
I am not a parent (though I do have a stepdaughter that I see pretty often.) I am sure that good parents know whether their kids are capable of keeping herps. I would advise though, that of course kids can be fickle. Parents should know proper care of the animals as well and consider themselves their owners.
I guess that it depends though. If an older kid/teen is enamored by a certain animal, and committed to keeping it, then do I think that the parents have to retain responsibility for the animal? Yes, and no. Yes, because it is living under their roof. No, because by this age, I would not like it if a committed, responsible teen missed their chance at owning a certain animal that they could care for, just because of parental ignorance and fear.