<p>My personal feeling is that we have made parents so legally responsible for the mistakes their kids might make growing up, and we have created so many zero tolerance rules, as well as such increased legal and school consequences for mistakes, that it is no wonder parents frequently feel overwhelmed with keeping kids safe from themselves and others.</p>
<p>There used to be a bigger tolerance for the learning that goes on and forgiveness for errors in thinking and action, an understanding that there is a “learning curve” to being a teenager and a legal understanding that parents cannot possibly know or control every little thing thier kids are doing.</p>
<p>I think, more than anything else, this has really contributed to the tight control parents feel obligated to hold.</p>
<p>You can actually ‘see’ this attitude even on CC when someone gets in trouble, or someone’s kids gets in trouble. “What didn’t the parents do? What did the parents do?”</p>
<p>People didn’t used to think that way in such a knee jerk fashion. My .02c.</p>