"Wow, that kid is a mess. Who are the parents?"

Quite often people address a problem and look straight to the parent or guardian of a young child. Why is that? Because they're the one who made them, who raised them and taught them from right and wrong. Right?

It's debatable, but in all honesty, parenting is probably one the single most difficult things to do on this earth. Are you doing it the right way or the wrong way? Should I let them do this or that? It's a job that can't be mastered no matter what anyone says. A movie that just made over 23.8 million dollars on opening weekend was the reason I wanted to write this. I'm not sure if you've seen it, but it's called "Bad Moms."

For being one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time, it still managed to bring a meaningful story and lesson to go with it. It's hard to make a movie that presents itself as such a comedy but still convey a message but this movie did it well, directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The "mean moms" in the movie represent the parents who think they have to make everything perfect, and their kids have to follow this perfect formula in order to succeed without any failures. It sounds ridiculous but unfortunately, there's a lot of people like this.

What these people are ignorant of, is the fact that nobody can be perfect. No matter how many hours you make them sit and do homework, how many extracurricular activities they participate in, or even if they have a 100 average in school, they aren't going to be perfect.

Then, there are the parents who just let their kids do what they want as soon as they can start walking. What these people are ignorant of is the fact that if they let them go on their own too quickly, that they won't learn any sort of discipline.

So where's the middle ground? When is it okay to be strict and when is okay to just let your kids be and trust them to make good choices? It's hard to tell. In the movie, actress Mila Kunis is an overworked and over-stressed parent who hasn't gotten a good nights sleep in over a decade of being a mom and she comes to her breaking point while being bullied around by the "mean moms"--the ones that act perfectly in every way. She finds other moms who feel like her and they fight back and show everyone that being a parent is extremely difficult and there's no one right way to raise your kids. All parents make mistakes and there's no reason to judge other parents because, in this day and age, it's almost impossible to be one.

In a world that has turned to the media and glued kids to their phones, it's no wonder why it's grueling to parent them anymore. There's so much nonsense and clutter out on the internet these days that no matter what you teach your child, it could go away with a click of a button. If you try to keep your kids from seeing certain things, sooner or later they will find it.

Also, we have come to the generation where kids don't want to work for anything anymore. They think things should be handed to them without hard work. They think the world owes them something and if they do anything wrong, it's not their fault and there's always an excuse. Always. So how do you parent that? What's the right way to discipline them but also allow them to go out and do things on their own? I feel like many parents are torn between being too strict and letting them be on their own. If they're too lenient either away it could be bad, so it's hard to juggle both.

From what I've seen, if parents are too strict and don't let their kids do anything as they grow up, those are the type of kids who go crazy once they leave the house and go off to college. They're the kids that haven't made mistakes and learned lessons so they are set up for a disaster once they hit their first college party.

Then there are the kids who were let free and able to do what they want. Once they hit the real world, they think they can handle anything and are more tempted to make bolder and riskier decisions which could hurt them down the road. Once again there's that middle ground of not knowing how far to go in either direction. It's almost impossible.

To me, it seems like the hardest years are the youngest years of the kids where you have to teach them discipline and manners and to be kind to others. Once you get that down and trust that they will take those things and run with it, you did your job.

And that's the hardest part because what if you do your job and then they get to those teenage years and they hang out with the wrong people and go against your trust and it all goes downhill from there? Then you feel like a failure, but in reality, once they get old enough to know what's right from wrong, it's up to them.

Despite this, people will still judge you and say that you didn't do a good job. That's when you can't take it to heart because if you know in our heart that you did what you had to do, those people's words mean nothing. Those are the people who are insecure with the way they parented most likely.

The main job for a parent is to give your child unconditional love no matter who they are and you have to support them in any situation. If you do that and teach them the ways to being a good person, everything will fall into place.

Kids need to be taught that they will fail at things as well. The one thing in this world that happens too often, is kids being given everything and are coddled too much because we don't want to hurt their feelings. Yes, it's hard to tell a kid that they aren't good enough for something but they need to know sooner rather than later because the later they find out, the harder it will be for them.

Bottomline is is that there's no one way to be a good parent and no matter what you're going to get judged, but just make sure that there is that middle ground where they know right from wrong and you can build trust. It all comes down to being disciplined but at the same time, teaching them to be good people and letting them go and make mistakes so they can learn from them.

As long as there is a lot of love and trust built in your relationship, eventually you'll be able to smile and watch them become the good person you hoped they would be.