No-nonsense parenting advice from child psychologist Greg Ramey Previous Articles -Can you help your children change their moods? -Teen sexuality poses challenges -What age can my child ...? -Children learn more by example than words -Can parents punish their children into good behavior?

For most of America's youth, these are the best of times to be a child. National statistics on child welfare generally reflect positive trends on a number of key indicators. Rates of child sexual abuse have declined by about 50 percent over the past 20 years, decreasing to 78,000 cases a year. Teen birth rates have been steadily declining since the 1990s.

While teen suicide increased dramatically between 1970 and 1994, the rates have generally declined over the past 15 years. Similar trends are noted in teen homicide, which increased among 15- to 19-year-olds from 8.1 to 20.7 per 100,000 teens from 1970 to 1995. However, this important indicator has also shown improvement, with a rate of about 9.3 in 2004.

Teenagers are the victims of violent crimes (robbery, assault, homicide, etc.) at a rate much higher than adults. However, in the past 10 years this rate also decreased by 50 percent. Other important indicators are also very favorable. Cigarette smoking is down dramatically among 12th-graders, from 28.8 percent in 1975 to 12.2 percent in 2006. The number of kids who feel unsafe at school decreased from 12 percent in 1995 to 6 percent in 2005.

These trends are not universal. There remain key differences among various groups, depending upon your race, gender and social class. While we can't be complacent with the number of children with serious problems, we can take pride that most indicators suggest that America's parents are doing a good job in caring for their kids. The data would suggest that it is a pretty nice time to be growing up. However, my sense is that most kids don't feel that way. Kids' expectations are pretty high, with a sense of entitlement that can be problematic.

I was at National Airport in Washington, D.C., a few weeks ago, returning from my son's college graduation. An 11-year-old boy was loudly whining to his parents that his hand-held video game was out of batteries. His dad offered to buy him something else to keep him occupied. The boy finally was satisfied when the dad promised to buy a back-up battery pack so that this would never happen again. Here's the funny part. The boy asked his dad to buy the batteries the same day they got home from their trip, and the dad answered, "I promise and if the store is closed we'll do this as soon as you get up in the morning!" Isn't there something wrong with that picture? Have we become so child-focused that we feel like it is our responsibility to entertain an 11-year-old because his video game ran out of batteries?

I suppose that a busy airport is not the place for a lecture on the history of childhood, but many kids and parents just don't have a sense of historical perspective. For most cultures in various historical periods, childhood was not a pleasant or safe time of life. Today's kids really have it pretty good, but how can we help them understand and appreciate what they have rather than whine about minor inconveniences?