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You know, you probably *can't* "make" people parent better. If they don't want to, they're not going to. I guess where my problem lies, though, is the overall response to this...the rest of society (i.e., schools) responds in ways which further enable bad parenting by either trying to take on the parents' proper role, *or* shrugging and looking the other way, *or* doing things which are grossly inappropriate as "fixes," i.e., Kindergarten sex ed. In other words, the culture as a whole is declining -- and kids who are from homes where they are well-parented are caught up in the mess. I'd like to see schools not try to be nannies and also to have high standards for behavior and learning, and let the chips fall where they may for parents and children with negative consequences for negative behavior. That's the only thing that will "make" bad parents act more responsibly.

For example, I recently wrote the principal of my daughter's high school inquiring about the school's lack of enforcement of the published dress code (you can see girls' rear ends hanging out of their low-rider pants...). The response was a shrug of the shoulders, "everybody does it," and "parents tell me they can't find other clothes." (Oh, then how does my daughter manage to get to school fully dressed?) I'd like to see appropriate school standards *enforced* and the parents and students have resulting consequences. (And no, I don't think it's nannying to expect kids to come to school fully covered, grin.) At the junior high, my inquiries about teachers ignoring children's foul language were met with "Well, the kids hear it at home and use it," in other words, a shrug and looking the other way. Well, at the elementary school they have standards and if a child cusses they sit in the office all day and their parents are called to the school for a conference, and funny thing, they don't have a language problem there. (My high schooler is the only one left in the public schools, the rest are private and homeschooled, in large part because of the declining educational and behavior standards I've seen just in the last half-decade, in particular...)

If a parent's going to do such a bad job that their elementary schooler is pregnant, I seriously question whether that child is neglected or in an abusive home -- obviously this is a young child who is not being properly monitored and cared for. There should be resulting legal consequences for a parent who would allow a child to become pregnant while still that young. The rest of society shouldn't have to pay by having their five-year-olds taught sex education.

I'd like to see appropriate school standards *enforced* and the parents and students have resulting consequences.

I agree totally.

I can tell you however, that when schools try to do that, they get a lot more complaints from the "bad" parents than kudos from the "good" parents...then the school board members get calls from the parents of the children who are being punished, then the administrators get calls from the school board.....