Parenting in 2012

I feel like adults of 2012 should parent their children with caution by being aware of the things that are happening in the outside world. Today in 2012 the world is crazy where there is a lot of younger generation smoking and doing drugs and there is also much violence and I believe that parents should protect their children from this without being over protective. When I am a parent I would want my child to have freedom and not being confined to the house like some parents do to their children. I would let my children do what they want but to a certain extent because I cant just let my child run buck wild and not be able to control him or herself. I also fell like adults in 2012 should talk to their children and know what goes on in their lives because our generation goes through so much and I feel like it is important that children have someone to open up to and I feel like the parent should make the child feel comfortable enough that they can talk to them about their situation. Some rules that I would give to my child, especially a teenager is to be home by a certain time because things happen in the world and I would want my children to be safe. I would never want to be over protective of my child because that is something that I experience and it is not any easy thing to deal with because you feel like you have no freedom and your guardian makes it seem like everything is a bad thing which it is not. I would want my child to be able to hang out with friends and have fun, something that an overprotective parent would not allow. Over all I believe that parents should lay down some ground rules and make sure that the child follows those simple basic rules. Also I believe that parents should be open with their children because parents can learn to be trusted by their kids and kids can be trusted by their parents. Lastly I feel like dicipline is important because without it the child may feel like they can get away with anything and everything.