Parents need to recognize that setting limits is not only in the child's best interest, but it also helps the child feel more secure. They try to overcompensate at times. If their parents were very strict and rigid, they try to be laissez-faire, which is as damaging to the children as if they were overly rigid. Every generation feels like its generation has it the toughest. I think this generation today might be the most challenged since the industrial revolution.
Life is more complicated.
Kids are exposed to so much so early through mass media and computers. This generation of kids can get into the World Wide Web or Internet and get information on just about anything. Children today are expected to deal with adult concepts very early and that's why they need attentive, interested parents. Sexuality is more complicated. We're exposing kids to sexual stimuli via the media.