Absoloutely spot on Nixy. It always annoys me how everybody blames kids - there is nothing wrong with kids - it's their parents!!!
I work with a lot of young people and in 99% of all cases where we have a problem with the youngsters, you can tell by the attitude of the parents where the problem has stemmed from. Not enough parents want to take responsibility for the their own children - it's someone else's responsibility and the government has to take some blame for this too, but fundamentally it lies with parents.
It is not good enough to say "I don't know what my child is getting up to" or "It must be the kids, he/she hangs around with"!! You make it your business.
Until this attitude changes - kids attitude won't change and it aint their fault.
Bringing up kids is the most difficult thing you will ever do in life.