CG, this is sort of funny... I summed up your rant, and you summed up mine! Lack of consequence - and parental consistency - is a real problem.#1 problem with children today - no CONSEQUENCE , or very little, for their actions.
"Mom grounded me for that once, but didn't do anything the last two times, so maybe I can get away with it again."
My Mom was very consistent, when she laid down the law, it was non-negotiable, and if I fucked up, I would hear the dreaded words, "Go get a switch." That included when we went to the grocery store and she said, "stay close, don't wander off." If I wandered very far at all, I knew that when we got home, that poor tree was going to lose another stem.
And snoozan, I understand that I was not a 24/7/365.25 parent. But my brother was a cop, and worked rotating shifts. When he had evening shifts, I would pick up my nephew as soon as I got out of school, and keep him until the next morning. That was usually two months at a time. And pretty damned close to being a working parent, and not an easy thing for a high school senior/college freshman.