I NEVER cease to be horrified by the legions of people who've given birth to children and call themselves "parents" while being almost pathologically poorly-equipped to raise them. And even those with the best of intentions seem hell-bent on shifting the responsibility for their children's development upon a societal mandate to accommodate them rather than investing a fraction of the same time, effort and energy instilling within their children the responsibilities they have to make their own way and be accountable for their own actions - upon which the sum total of any so-called "rights" they expect is predicated entirely.

News programs who seem to exploit this phenomenon into hour-long "featurettes" people are eager to adopt as mass panaceas are more spectacle than helpful. And from the child's perspective, I would be horribly resentful if I were to learn my parents wasted any amount of my time manipulating me into situations to serve the interests of their own curiosities - no matter how altruistic or noble the parents claim to be. What WORSE example of ends being inappropriately used to justify the means, or respect for the one non-renewable resource we all possess in finite quantities (time) can there be?

The vast majority of people who have children simply shouldn't. And instinctive emotional bonds aren't substitutes for common sense or parenting skill - although they're often claimed to be. There are NO QUICK FIXES - only parents who instill the proper values, confidence and wisdom from birth - and continue their children's development throughout the whole of their adolescence - like the few examples in the contrived examples shown. Thank God for them - and the Lucys of the world to give future generations hope.

And let us not forget the inappropriate "Stranger Danger" myth, with such an overwhelming percentage of threats to children proven to be from people known to them... aka the "family friend". Needlessly demonizing strangers, rather than first understanding, then teaching children about the appropriate, realistic threats to them that exist - and how to avoid them.

I'm a little creeped out by the mother who was drug testing her son. What's up with that?

We applaud NBC Nightly News and Dateline for broadening the discussion of bullying in our society in such a powerful way. Kudos to Brian Williams and Kate Snow for lending your professional voices to what is becoming a growing national discussion on how to get ahead of this dreadful problem facing families and schools. Our advice as Moms and the founders of +(Positive)Works, a new non-profit bullying awareness organization, is to educate yourself as a parent on this issue -- to look at bullying as a process (bully-target-bystander) not a person, to understand that our children can drift in and out of these roles throughout their day -- and to acknowledge the important role of bystanders. "Bullies only do what bystanders allow," according to noted bullying expert Dr. Stuart Twemlow. We add that children only do what adults allow. To that end, we also suggest that all parents, we included, look at the "cultural cocktail" we are serving our kids -- early cell phone/social networking access, PG-13 and R-rated movies being seen by younger and younger kids, and provocative M(mature)-rated video games being played regularly by elementary school kids -- and that we get real about how these conscious choices impact behavior in our homes, at school and in our neighborhoods. This "cultural cocktail" is packed with a power we cannot yet understand -- and we are already feeling the effects of the subsequent cultural hangover. We also need to be mindful of our behavior as adults by saying no to gossip ourselves and yes to positive talk and action in our own homes. THERE IS HOPE -- thanks to people like Brian and Kate and positive parents all over this great country -- but we must work TOGETHER as families and schools to co-create authentic and a truly positive difference for our kids. To learn more, visit www.positivethinkingworks.org.

I just watching this episode of the perils of parenting. Even though I don't have children, bullying is definitely something I will talk to my nieces and nephews about. I'm a young adult, and I just want to say how impressed I was by the girl Lucy. What strong character this little girl has. Her polite yet relentless efforts to assist Max, who was being bullied, was great to watch. I was cheering for her; her parents have true reason to be proud of the strong person she already is at this young age. Kudos to her!