Parenting in the US needs to be more strict, and punishment should be more harsh

In the last several years, there has been an increased amount of violence, and both physical, and verbal abuse among children of increasingly young ages. I believe that although parenting is not the cause of this problem, it contributes, and could be the solution. The amount of violence, and bullying is increasing in schools, and becoming more severe, as we see from incidents across the nation, along with incidents in our own towns and schools. In the last years, there have been several shootings of schools, countless threats, fights, and horrible rumors, also, things such as sex, drugs, alcohol, and cheating, have become an accepted part of teen-age behavior, this will have a negative effect on individuals, and society as a whole. As the baby-boomers get old, and begin to draw from social security, and the country engages in wars, the next generation will need to step up and fill the shoes of those before us, as society becomes worse and worse, more students are not finishing high school, being expelled, or dying by their own hand, or because of their piers, such as drunk driving, and drug overdoses, although this may not cause a serious problem for the country as a whole, it will cause a problem as their is a demand for trained employees, who have a degree, or are specialized in a certain field, also violence, and bullying in school causes problems for individuals in the teenage population, this can be linked to the shootings, threats, and suicide rate in the nation, and could be solved with better parenting. If parents took the time to discipline their children, starting at a young age, and through their teens, I believe, many of the problems previously stated could be solved, especially, drugs, alcohol, and sex. As children we look up to our parents, as role models, we trust them, and most children say at least once, that they want to be just like their parents, so, if parents make their opinions clear on controversial topics, and make sure that their children know the difference between right and wrong, and know how to make good decisions, many of our problems could be solved for. There is not only a need for more parenting, and punishment, but more harsh punishment, and more frequent, more harsh punishment, although not neccesarrily physical, would greatly increase the effectiveness. Currently, parents often say, "You are grounded from the TV" or "You cant go out this week", but still allow their children to do other things, which are just as fun, also, making punishments which are not relevant to the problem are not effective, for punishments to be effective, they need to do, at least two, if not all of the three following... 1)Be directly relevant to the problem 2)Be long lasting 3)Cover all privileges, without these, the children don't feel punished, and know that they can get away with doing the same thing again, without being seriously punished. When this happens, children make bad habits, have bad morals, and do not know how to determine between right and wrong, if this could be solved for, many of our problems with the young population could be solved for.