My daughter told me once that respect has to be earned. I totally disagreed with her, as far as our relationship was concerned. I am her mother and a good one at that. That fact alone demands that she respects me, not to mention the fact that I am her elder and our religious beliefs demand it.

Yes, parents need to treat their children with the same respect that we expect from our children. They have the same rights that adults do because they are humans, living creatures. All living creatures deserve a degree of respect... well, except the malicious, harmful ones.

Trust also has a lot to do with how a child is raised and treated. Trust is the same as respect. You begin by trusting unless a person proves untrustworthy.

Today, parents are too busy with other things to give their children the proper attention. It's the rare parent that can hold down a full time job outside the home and also do a good job of raising their offspring. Just not enough time spent with the kids.

The media also has a lot to do with kids lack of respect and responsibility today. By media I mean TV, radio music stations, and most of the computer and other games, movies and even commercials. Internet chat rooms are downright scary! It's not only the lack of respect for each other but it's a vast playground for perpetrators of all kinds.

True discipline has gone by the wayside. "Discipline" means to teach, first and foremost. When my youngest DIL had my granddaughter and the baby started walking around and getting into things, my DIL would tell her "Be nice!" That's all. Finally, when it drove me up the wall, I told my DIL that she had to teach her daughter what is nice and what isn't.

If a parent spanks, they spank or beat out of their own anger and not according to the wrong done by the child. I have always believed in spanking in the proper circumstance. A major punishment was three smacks on the bottom, no where else. True withholding of priviledges, IMO, is the best way to discipline. Consistency plays a very important role. Forget any kind of discipline if you can't be consistant.

Do I sound like an authority in raising children? Well, if raising three kids of my own and one step-son that is just like my own, and helping to raise nine grandkids, then I'm an expert. LOL Most of what I learned, I learned it with my grandkids. I can look back and see some of the mistakes I made with my own kids. I never hesitate to apologize, either to my own kids or my grandkids. The oldest is 17 and the youngest is three. I beam at the thought of any one of them.