I think it's also that people are getting away from whooping their kids. I'm all about whoopins. We got them no matter where we were, store, school, playground, where ever. Now, people are afraid of having child services called on them. You have people in the grocery store watching how you hit your child and calling you an abuser. There is a distinct difference in a whoopin' and being child abused. My mother gave me the number to call child services when I was little. I was too scared to call though.
And I agree about the parents trying to be friends with their kids. I think it all boils down to the fact that kids just aren't scared of their parents anymore. When I was little, my parents were like God to me. I honestly thought that my mother was capable of killing me (you know the speech, I brought you in this world....) All it takes is a little fear. But at the same time, I was always comfortable talking to her about anything. She could trust me.
As far as the kids with all the technology, I wonder if it's people making sure that their kids have what they couldn't have. Now, we all know that not all these kids are deserving of half of this stuff with the way they act and carry on. But I know a lot of my friends with kids don't want their child to be the one teased in school because they don't have this or they don't have that. I just don't understand the whole kids having pagers and cell phones. All yall are in school together!!! Who could possibly be paging and calling you? What a mess.....