Why Are Children So Disrespectful These Days?

I recall when my husband and I first talked about having children that one of the points that we vehemently agreed upon was that we wanted to teach our children to be polite, to have good manners, and, above all else, respect others. Maybe this is because of the way that we were raised by our parents, in homes where manners were very important and there were consequences for not adhering to these rules. Our parents were probably went a little overboard in enforcing and teaching these rules, however, it is easy to see the importance of instilling a good set of values in one’s children.
As an educator, I can definitely tell you that teaching manners has definitely taken a back burner in the priorities list of many modern parents. Even something as rudimentary as saying “please” and “thank you” escapes some children and young people these days. As a mother, I have also witnessed other parents in places such as the park, the doctor’s office, the store, etc. and I find myself wondering where the heck having some manners has gone? Not only am I appalled at the way some of these kids talk to their parents but I am even more upset about the fact that their parents don’t even chastise them for their behavior.
We pride ourselves on the fact that our children have very good manners. As a matter of fact, we receive compliments regularly about how well behaved our children are. This has been accomplished by calling attention to the behavior if it is inappropriate, modeling good behavior, and imposing consequences for infractions in the form of having privileges taken away or “time out.”
Believe me, we are, by no means, a perfect family. My children misbehave sometimes just like other kids do, however, they don’t curse or use foul language, they defer to adults, and they are appreciative when they are rewarded. At the very least, these are some of the qualities that all children should have. Unfortunately, that is not the case and I still see kids cursing and yelling at their parents, tantrums in department stores when they don’t get what they want, and bewildered parents who don’t have the first clue about how they should be disciplining their children.
This is completely ridiculous! Children need boundaries and should receive guidance from their parents or legal guardians. I think part of the problem is that we have a lot of parents who are more interested in being their child’s friend than their parent. Your children don’t need you to be their friend, they will have enough friends throughout their life. Don’t get me wrong, you can be your child’s friend within the parameters of being a parent but you should not be more their friend than their parent and compromise being respected as such.
I realize that everyone has a different parenting style and that this is a touchy subject. If some people are not willing to take the time our to teach their kids some manners and respect then perhaps they don’t deserve the greatest and most important job/role in the whole world-being a parent.