Please spare me any "be your child's friend" speeches. If we actually allowed our children to be children longer then they would learn responsibility BEFORE they entered an adult world.
Responsibility is learned in measures just like anything else in life. You give your children responsibility for chores and handling their allowances because that's a small step in learning and if they screw that up they don't get hurt and pay for it the rest of their life because you can correct it.
If you expect them to handle the responsibility of an adult world and they fail, then those mistakes can harm them for the rest of their life. This very instance is proof that these children were given more responsibility than they could handle. The problem is that there are too many adults out there who have children and the adults aren't responsible. They aren't teaching their children responsibility at a young age and then they throw them out there and this is the results.
>>Please spare me any "be your child's friend" speeches.>>
It appears you misunderstood my tone and post. I am in opposition to being a child's friend. We are their parents, the rule makers, not their buddies.
However, expecting teenagers to learn responsibility over 6 years of care-free life doesn't work. Never has. They must be taught to be responsible BEFORE the day comes when the rets of their age is acting irresponsibly.