PA
Grandparents secretly think their grandchildren are badly-disciplined, ill-mannered, disrespectful and treated too leniently, according to a new survey - and their parents are to blame.
The study found that modern parenting leaves many grandparents despairing, as their offspring discipline their kids too leniently by not deploying old-fashioned methods like smacking or sending them to bed without any dinner.
Two-thirds of the grandparents polled said they thought their grandchildren are not as firmly disciplined as their own children were, whilst three in ten said their grandchildren lacked any discipline at all.
One in six of the grandparents surveyed went as far as to say they thought their children had failed as parents.
Jane Silk, a spokeswoman from the Mature Times who commissioned the study, said the findings clearly showed a 'perceived drop in standards of discipline over the last generation.'
She said: 'The majority of grandparents think their children are far too lenient and do not set clear behavioural boundaries for their kids.
'Their perception is that this has resulted in a lack of respect for authority and clear values.'
The publication polled 500 grannies and grandads on their children's parenting skills compared to their own.
Nearly half said they were stricter with their youngsters during their childhood than their children are with their own offspring, and one in four said that harsher discipline would improve their grandchildren's behaviour.
Seven per cent blamed themselves for their grandchildren's behaviour, and said they wished they had disciplined their own children more strictly so they would have instilled the necessary values in the next generation.
What do you think? Do your parents criticise your parenting style? Or are you a grandparent who despairs of your grandchildren's behaviour?