we've done nothing to alter the cycle of piss poor parenting
All well and good to say if you still have control of parenting. Here in Oz, effective parenting/discipline has been taken away from us by government... which has incessantly been lobbied by do-gooders who seem to think the rights of children take precedence over adult responsibilities.
I do not think it is reasonable that a parent can be charged for grounding a disobedient child, yet I was... deprivation of liberty.
I do not think it is reasonable that a parent can be threatened by police for withholding pocket money from a disobedient child, yet I was... threatened with 'charges' if it was not reinstated to restore "social equality"
I do not think it is reasonable that a parent can be charged with theft after confiscating their own mobile phone from a child because it was being used for nefarious purposes, yet I was... despite showing proof of purchase [a receipt in my name] I was held in a police holding cell for 8 hours until I agreed to return my own phone [loaned] to my step-daughter, all because [according to the cops] her SIM card was in it.
I do not think it is reasonable that a parent be threatened with charges of kidnapping and deprivation of liberty for deadlocking all the windows and doors to protect a child from herself and those with intentions to exploit her, yet I was... she used the mobile phone I had to hand back to call police. Again I was carted off to lockup and held until I agreed to various police demands.
I do not think it is reasonable that the Police Minister, also Minister for Families can threaten a parent with "shut up and go away or else", yet I was.... for simply trying to protect a my step-daughter from herself and others by seeking that the relevant authorities did their jobs as prescribed by law.
Through these events I was forced to leave the state I had called home for almost 10 years. Now I could understand the police intervention and attitude if I had belted her black and blue or something, but that wasn't the case. No, I was trying to do the right thing, as any responsible parent would, and all I got for my trouble was police and government harassment... a child who [then] disobeyed me/us because police and government said she could.
All this do-gooder interference and government intervention has done little to wipe out real child abuse [it still exists behind closed doors], but it has given rise to another and all too often unpunished crime... parental abuse. A woman exhibiting several nasty bruises recently disclosed to me that both her 14 and 15 year old sons beat her and her husband, yet the police do no more than give these unruly brats a slap on the wrist and send them home to do it again and again.
So no, it's not always down to "piss poor parenting", more that do-gooders and government have stuck their noses too far into family life and seriously curtailed the ability of parents to do their jobs.
Fortunately, that disobedient and unruly girl is now a good and responsible mother herself... something she attributes to our teachings, love and persistence. What we then thought went in one ear and out the other was indeed a positive influence in her life, and for that I cannot be more glad or proud. Despite my/our earlier fears, she has exceeded our hopes for her.