Some parents today want to be friends instead of parents.  They are afraid if they say no, their kids will hate them.
I was told no quite often as a child (yeah, hard to believe, right?), and now as an adult I consider my mother my friend.  I was given boundries and if I crossed them I paid the consequence.  My mother never had to worry about me getting arrested either.  I fully believe she would have lefy my ass in jail to pay my consequence. 
Parents also need to be consisted.  I can't tell you the number of times I had a talk with my sister, Jamie, about this.  She would let Kelly get away with something one minute and the next jump down her throat.  I have always told her to follow my mother's example.  Now Kelly is a senior in high school, in the National Honor Society and has an academic scholarship to attend The University of South Carolina next fall.

forget the overalls...I want to be the spandex... here kit-ty kit-ty kit-ty