Rebellious teenagers - whose fault is it?

Lynn Spears, mother of Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears, has been bashed in magazines and television shows as being "no mother of the year." Not only has her older daughter, Britney, fallen off the deep end and is photographed stealing lighters, shaving her head, and opting to not wear underwear with her mini skirts, her youngest daughter, Jamie Lynn, is now 16 and pregnant. Who else can be blamed but Mom?

Besides the public humiliation of being labeled "a bad mom," Lynn Spears also wrote a book (about parenting) that has been put on indefinite hold by the publisher after the news of her daughter's pregnancy. Some would call her na've for even attempting to pass herself off as a good parent, yet her book is about raising children in the limelight. Never does she claim to give life-altering advice to be a good parent; she shares her experience of raising two child stars.

Rather than blaming bad parenting on this "rebellious" behavior, the blame should be placed on the person responsible: the child. Parents may try and claim that they control their teenage children, but, in actuality, they do not.

When out of their parent's vision, some children become completely different people than who their guardians think they are. No amount of "the talk" about safe sex or scolding about underage drinking will stop a teenager who has made the decision to engage in these activities.

According the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, one in three American girls become pregnant before they are 20 years old. This equals to about 750,000 teen pregnancies per year. It is impractical to blame 1,500,000 parents for their children's actions.

If we take the magnifying glass off of Lynn Spears, it is easier to see that most of Hollywood's young stars are no model children. They drink underage and do illegal drugs. They get in drunken car accidents and make sex tapes. Shall we start criticizing the Hiltons' mom, or mother Lohan?

Rather, it is imperative to realize that teenagers have the free will and knowledge to make educated decisions. If we put more emphasis on the children being responsible for their own actions, perhaps they would think twice before engaging in activities that are currently being blamed on "bad parenting."