Letter: Child discipline

Sir: Would that all mothers-to-be and new mothers on their way home from the hospital could be given a copy of Diana Appleyard's thoughts ("A mother's confession", 24 September). The worry as voiced by Jenni Renwick-Smith, is not just that "a new generation of insecure brats" is being created, but that those children will grow up bereft of any skills in teaching their children that being part of an acceptable society carries responsibilities which require to be painstakingly taught.

Should such lessons not be given and heeded, one can only envisage a one-way path to a vast increase in state legislation imposed by and at the behest of those who want a more "comfortable" life, where increasingly repressive laws attempt to provide a framework for juvenile behaviour to offset parental shortcomings. Far-fetched? Would the proposed law to make parents take their children to school have been imaginable 40 years ago?

Robert Biltcliffe

Zelah

Cornwall