Novelist Jacqueline Wilson is the latest person to say that children are growing up too young and parents should have stricter control on them and say no to them more often.

here's a quote from her:  “Parents need to take a stand, to tell their children ‘I don’t care if everyone else in the class is allowed to do this or that. You are not.’ No-one wants a confrontation, but adolescence is a tricky time and it is the nature of the beast that teenagers are a bit stroppy. You just have to accept that.”

makes sense to me, although when I was a kid I was desperate to be an adult

That's a very good question Tony Tony. I think I was in a rush to be an adult too but it really saddens me to see children trying to dress and act as adults - enjoy your youth you don't get it back!

I don't agree that more control of parents over their children in needed.

How about showing more respect, more love and appreciation. How about letting them to be children...How about offering them quality time... How about warm relationships....How about listen to what they say...how about less praise and more encouragement...

 Hitting an adult is illegal -why hitting a child is different?

 I'm with you Daci - on the whole we don't tend to treat children well in this country - they often seem to be treated as something of a hindrance to our lifestyle. I wonder if it differs in other countries?

I think it is very different in other countries and not just on the corporal punishment front. I totally agree with you Daci - how can we explain to children that it's wrong for them to hit their friends (or enemies) in the playground if it's perfectly acceptable for us as adults to be hitting them?

But in general I think European countried treat their children a lot better than we do in the UK, in terms of enjoying occasions with them rather than as you say Simeon - seeing them as a nuisance or hindrance!

Good point Ed.

In this country we seem to have this gaping generational divide that they don't have in many European countries. I was in holiday in France last year and remember going into a number of bars and cafes and finding people of all ages there, which was great.

There seems to have never been such a focus on making people better parents across government (with parenting orders, contracts, fines for truancy etc) and the media (Supernanny etc), but maybe there isn't enough focus on the outside influences on children and parents that make the job so difficult, such as poverty, inequality and certain forms of advertising.

Should the government be cracking down in a big way on the sort of advertising that fuels both so-called "pester power" and the early sexualisation of children?

The way the children are parented are different in every culture and perhaps in every culture there are some issues that affect how the children are parented. Are parents warmer with their children in some countries and less in other ? Is the wider family more or less involve in the life of the child?

But if you are to look at a common issue, I think that the motivation behind the decision to have a child is truly important. When people are becoming parents just to fill a void in their life than their way they parent their child will reflect that.

All this programs on TV seem to be answering questions like "what to do when my child is doing that?".  I might be wrong but I don't heard about any program trying to make the parents more reflective at their own feelings and how they affect their responses and the child response. They do not make them look about their own experience to be parented and how that influence them today. Perhaps because it is a tricky subject.

I think some parents need parenting skills when the child is very young. In the high street I have heard who I assume to be parents threatening the young child with a 'good slap' or i'll hit you in a minute if you don't stop, as they drag them along. A family I know have screamed and shouted at their children since they were young, now as teenagers they all scream, shout and slam doors!

What is meant by 'stricter'? as a child I felt my parents were strict and I was terrified of them, it did me no good. With my son who is a young person we have clear boundaries and consequences for bad behaviour that is followed through i.e grounding, not allowed on the computer. Does this make me strict ? However for some young people whose parents have lost control the young person would tell them where to go and go out. I don't know how parents of so called out of control young people could ever gain control again, it would seem to be too late. Maybe they never had control? I have seen mums threaten to take things away or send the child to bed only for it not to happen and then the  mum looks at me and says he won't listen what can I do?

 I think parenting is something of a fine art - what do you make of those TV psychologists who help people with difficult kids? Tanya Byron always seemed quite good but she's given up her House of Tiny Tearaways stuff to write that Vivienne Vyle programme with Jennifer Saunders. According to this interview she gave up the TV parenting stuff because she felt parents were being disempowered because they were being given too much advice and information and that TV programmes of that genre were moving into an area she wasn't comfortable with.

I am also a parent and although I used to like watching things like Tiny Tearaways I began to feel that a lot of the advice given to parents was so basic and required a dose of common sense rather than an experienced knowledgable psychologist.It is very much a cultural thing and I wonder if this disposable world we are living in makes us want everything yesterday. Children learn behaviour from those around them , mainly the parents but nobodys perfect.My own parents wer alcoholic bullies and I swore never to raise my child the way I was raised, but guess what ? My daughter is starting to rebel against me and shes only 9 LOL