There is a telling quote in the comments of Lynda Warrington, head of the Girls' Grammar School, Bradford, in her speech on teenage behaviour at a major conference in Wales.

Speaking as president of the Girls' School Association, she said she feared she was overstepping the mark when she started to tell parents not to let their children aged 13 and 14 go to pubs and clubs. But she found that parents had thanked her for taking that line because it gave them an excuse to do the same themselves.

Therein lies the nub of the issue: that many parents apparently feel unable to lay down rules and regulations and standards of behaviour for fear of sparking confrontation with their children or being accused of causing them to feel let down in the estimation of their peers.

Lynda Warrington is quite right when she says that it has almost become the norm for 14 and 15-year-olds to spend time in pubs and that under-age sex and even (for some) drugs have become acceptable. But it is a situation which has grown out of the pervading standards in our society. As the head teacher says, we need to get a grip before it runs away with us altogether.

Parents, teachers and society in general need to start fighting back, reimposing standards of behaviour and supporting each other in the battle to drag our collective morality back up to a level with which we feel more comfortable - without, in the process, damaging the freedom and growth potential of our children.