Thank you Collette,
I agree with your assessment of "moral panic" labelling. Such simplistic throw-away lines, based on a laissez-faire approach to parenting, are designed to shut down debate and alternative views. I especially appreciated your statement that making it easier does not make it safer.

I cannot fathom the mentality behind creating what is clearly intended as a sexting app under the guise of more secure sexting. I feel for the young people who are exploited, having been convinced that using Sizzle is a safe way to sext. How about actually addressing the issue rather than facilitating the problem? I am reminded of Amy Poehler's character on the movie Mean Girls, offering teenage girls cocktails. "I'm not like a regular mom, I'm a cool mom!"

I am quickly getting tired if hearing the term 'moral panic' thrown around as a way to shut down debate and silence anyone else with a different opinion. Is it moral panic to recognise the potential harms of teen girls engaging in risky sexual behaviours? Who is in a moral panic here?

I must admit allowing my then under 18s small amounts of beer or wine when it was on the menu for special occasions or family gatherings. This was/is a cultural thing in my family. I would not offer it to other people's children however.

Over the past couple of decades I've witnessed 'stupid parenting' to take one's breath away. It starts in infancy when some parents capitulate to their toddlers every demand and turn a blind eye to bad behaviour - because admonishing or punishing is so ...negative. These parents seem to think the rest of society has an obligation to tolerate their brats no matter how unpleasant the outcomes for everyone around.

From there, the inevitable sense of entitlement in that child just grows. Think that's ugly? Just wait til 'horror-mones' kick in.

It's not easy finding that perfect level of discipline and control which gradually wanes as the young and maturing adult grows but it's a parental obligation - both legally and morally. Otherwise there are going to be an awful lot of laissez-faire parents very dissappointed with their childrens choice of their nursing home ...

I couldn't say how many parties I went to as a teenager in the 1980's where the parents had put on a barrel for their kids, some even used to charge guests a $5 "deposit".
I do recall one 16th birthday party which culminated in an all in brawl and seeing the very smashed mother of the birthday girl wandering the wrecked hall crying and wailing, "I knew we shouldn't have brought out the top shelf, we shoulda never brought out the top shelf!"
As for sexting, kids used to take their clothes off, streak, skinny dip and flash their rude bits when intoxicated, they'd have sex in full view of the other partygoers, on the lawn, on the couch, in the laundry, we'd stand around and watch....we live in such an affected, prudish, conservative age and like all prudes and conservatives these Neo-Wowsers are invariably phonies and hypocrites.

inevitable result of the moral relativism mantra pushed by the secular high priests for the last few decades. Simply reaping what has been sown.

Jay, there has always been a counter-culture, and I expect there always will be, but the teen 'fun and games' you describe is really 'in the toilet', as far as I am concerned - and you can call me a 'prude' or Neo-Wowser if you like, but I see myself only as a reasonably moral and responsible individual. Obviously you and I can agree to differ in our view of 'good clean fun'.

As a non-parent, I guess I have little or no right to comment on this issue, and I admit to being singularly Unfamiliar with the primary aspirations or outlook of modern Aussie (or other) youth, but I cringe at some of the antics displayed on our TV screens of 'schoolies', etc, out having 'fun'. I can only hope those images are portraying only a counter-culture minority - but I unfortunately fear that this 'minority' may be in throes of rapid expansion.

We can all be forgiven for an occasional 'mistake', but not for habitually irresponsible behaviour. The decent parents of tomorrow will only come from the decent youth of today, so I have to hope a majority of our youth will make the right choices and have sufficient respect for themselves (and possibly for their parents) to behave responsibly even when faced with great temptation to 'disrespect' others.

I have to agree with divine_msn on the role of responsible parenting, and can only hope that such responsibility may continue to be the norm, rather than the exception. Time will tell.