How can we go about establishing minimum standards for parenting?

I've noticed such an overall decline in parenting standards in the last 10 to 15 years (as evidenced by what I've noticed to be a real growth in poorly behaved children and blas茅 parental response and proactiveness).





I've read that this might in part be due to everythign from a post 9-11 'baby spike' to the decline of the nuclear family.





But as I look around at these poorly behaved children, and declining moral values amongst tween and teens .. if in fact children are our future - what can we do to ensure better quality leaders of tomorrow..?





If the fault lies in poor parenting - what can we do to fix this problem?





more government intervention? cash incentives? parent licensing? mandetory parent re-education? free public early childhood education (preschool)?





?How can we go about establishing minimum standards for parenting?
Given the fact that we have to deal with the situation as it stands, I think more education is a good start. Both increased opportunity for education at younger ages (many private schools begin even as young as 3 years of age) as well as increased opportunity for higher education. Just getting adults to discipline their kids would be great as well. Too many parents fear reprecussions from doing actual parenting. It seems they want to be their kids best friends rather then the role model and disciplinarian they're supposed to be.





We've given children too much space as a society and that has enabled them to think they can essentially get away with whatever they want. I do agree, the breakdown of the nuclear family as well as both parents working (when two parents are still married) creates a situation where children spend a good portion of their time without supervision or instruction. We've become a society where we want our cake and to eat it too. Sacrafice is part of raising a family. My wife stays home with the kids and has put her career on hold for the greater good of our family overall and I shoulder the burden of working to care financially for the family. Kids need structure and discipline, without it we end up with problems like we have now.How can we go about establishing minimum standards for parenting?
Court-ordered vasectomies and tube-tying, haha. No seriously, there are some people who have 10 children with 10 different people. If they aren't gonna use birth control, then the court should pay for some tubes to be tied.





The way a parent behaves is how a child will.





Although it's not always the parents' fault. I have an aunt who rarely swears and doesn't use vulgar language, and her husband does, but not much, and their son is unbelievably foul. And I mean more than the average boy should be. At first I was amazed, but then I went to his house once and heard some of his friends. It was...really, really disturbing. I know that some of behavior is from home (his brother), but there's a lot of words that I know he would NEVER hear in his house.





And I have no idea why there are 11-year-olds walking around in high heels and miniskirts; I'm at a total loss on that one.
i think they should start by making mandatory drug tests for parents i can't believe how many parents do drugs its gross maybe they would think twice about having kids if they can;t get high anymore the only problem is who will take all the kids that are takin away
i'm sure your grandparents said the same thing about your generation
I've always been an advocate of mandatory parenting classes in school before the age at which the students are allowed to drop out, where they can be taught what to expect from their children at each stage of development and what type of upbringing children are known to respond to, and what the parents' proper role and responsibilities are. I think that's the best place to start. That and seriously addressing the growing gang problem.
We can't. Any woman willing to hold still for two minutes can give birth nine months later, and our government is extremely loath (with good reason) to take children away from even obviously unqualified mothers.





The good reason is that the government does a worse job of raising children than even an unqualified mother. LOL.
Oh, if ONLY we could require competence testing and issue licenses. I'm in, where do I sign?!
I really wish there there was a way to regulate this!





Perhaps, if parents had to PAY some outrageous fee, like...$10,000 for each child they gave birth to, only dedicated and responsible people would choose/be able to afford children lol