No. Never. There has never been good parents who have raised bad children.

I don't feel the title "Bad Kids" is very appropriate. Having a child with ADHD I find it very offensive that NBC would label her as "Bad".

Yes, good parents can raise bad kids. Adam and Eve raised Cain, who killed Abel.

Respect and empathy should be taught in the home. Many parents are too permissive these days and their kids grow up selfish. Some parents defend their kids no matter how serious the infraction is. ADHD is no excuse for bad behavior - sorry your kid has a mental illness but s/he still needs to learn to live in society and it's your responsibility as the parent to teach those values. Pay attention to what your kid is doing. Teach them to hold doors open for others or to step aside to let someone pass. These are small efforts that are worth a million bucks. If you don't know how to teach these values, buy a book! there are plenty of effective parenting courses available to you. Tell you what...I wouldn't want to be a teacher these days and have to deal with these budding sociopaths.

I have seen good parents with a bad child. He has schzhrophrenia. He does lots of drugs to try to stop the voices in his head. He steals and does anything for the drugs. Prescription drugs have not helped. He was a great kid until age 18 when this hit him. It is not fair to always blame the parents.

I think mental illness defines this issue; as an adult now, my sister was always mentally ill. Over the course of her lifetime, she chose hundreds of times to go off the meds that stablize her schizophrenia. The results have led her to a very different path in life, compared to mine. Yet, we were raised and born to the same parents, shared everything, and are just 18 months apart. My Mother says she was just born this way. I agree that there aren't 'bad' kids; perhaps just those with undefined mental illness or attachments disorders. All the loving in the world can only support them; not change them. Now, as mother of 13-year-old daughter, I'm watching her like a hawk, praying every night. Is love, consistency and accountability enough?

as a middle school counselor - that had to be the worse segment that Today has ran. I love your family tips, but that was just bad. First, empathy does not develop until age 10- already into a school - social stage- where other "markers" may already be present. Second, resident treatment is a HUGE jump for a family based on one behavior marker. First- the family needs to contact a professional, work with te people who are around them the most in a greater social setting, and then from there formulate a direction of treatment.....and within ourselves put a understandable line of closure to the old, "they are just kids being kids", maybe they are trying to tell you something by exhibiting poor behavior.

I'm 60 and was diagnosed with ADHD 15 years ago. My son has it as well as my grandson. I too thought it short sighted to label my kids BAD. me on the other hand growing up in the 60's my teachers and parents and peers did label me bad or troubled. I also understand we had no knowledge of ADHD then. Ultimately things were very difficult for me. My advice as a parent, educate yourself about ADHD. As much as you can. Solving problems and issues with a ADHD child are quite different than with a child without ADHD. Parents too often fall back to old school techniques which only make the problem worse.

I have to disagree 100% with the middle school counselor about children not being able to develop empathy until age 10. While it might take some that long, there are many, many children (including myself as a child) that are very empathetic at a young age. Actually it should be taught as early as possible and 10 is FAR too late to be teaching empathy.

As all people have different personalities children can have different personalities than their families which might result in good parents having "bad" kids. However, "good" parents does not necessarily mean "good discipline" so that is probably the cause. With the obvious exception of social disorders of course.

You can absolutely have good parents raise "bad seeds". All it takes is not discipling your children when they are young. We have waaaaay too many of these kids out there today. Parents are getting way too permissive and spoiling their children with things. Too many parents who make excuses for their children's bad bahaviour. My sister-in-law lets her grandchildren run around in restaurants etc and doesn't see anything wrong with that. But the funny thing is, she never let her own children do that. Go figure?

The biggest problem with this segment is what if the parents are the ones with the personality disorders and the child is acting like a normal kid? My mother was the one with the problem and if she was watching your show when I was a kid she would continue her horrible behavior using the excuse her kids were "bad seeds" therefore removing all personal responsibility for her actions. Parents with personality disorders already believe their children are out to get them. Just because a parent views a child a certain way doesn't mean it's true. I don't think it was their intention, but your guests should be very careful about blaming children, it puts them at risk.

barring medical and mental illness, I find the question of how bad patents can raise good children much more of a conundrum. All parents make mistake, but some children turn out well in spite of it.

Everyone's hitting all over the place here. So I suggest we clarify, let's define bad kids, & keep kids under the age of 16. Bad should be what society traditionally defines as bad: those that steal, lie, cheat, etc & do not have any remorse. They take an opportunity without care that it hurts others. (That removes ADHD, etc kids, because there again, you can have good & bad kids. No excuses.)

With that said, yes, Good parents can have kids that choose to be bad. It's empowering to kids just like adults. The best parents can do (which many do not, now a days), is teach them morals, minding (enforcing obedience-discipline) and manners. Morals (& empathy) come from the Bible, minding (the fear of receiving a genuine spanking in school did WONDERS at my elementary school in the 60's), and manners, which were taught in home/school. Put those back in place and more good parents would have less bad kids.

I believe after a certain age, everyone knows right from wrong no matter who raised you. We must accept responsibility for our own actions. People want to blame everyone else for their bad behavior when they should own up to whatever they have done. Whether we have been blessed or beaten in this life, everyone must be willing to deal with the consequences of their actions. No one is to blame but the person acting out. You can make things happen or make excuses. You decide if you want to be a winner or a loser in this life, not your parents.

I know that "good" parents can turn out "bad" kids. Its happened to me. I use the term "good" losley cuase I'm not going to claim t be perfect buy I tryed to teach my kids right and wrong, good work ethics, how to manage money etc. and I know I couldn'd have been all bad cause two of my kids turned out great but the other one..... I love my son very much but he's been in truble one way or another since he was in preschool. he's not ADHD, he's not mentaly ill - he's just a pain in the butt. he's an adult now and nothing has changed.

I've seen kids from very bad homes turn into great people and I have seen kids from good homes turn into real jerks. we have to stop playing the blame game in this country and start making kids (and adults) take responsability for there own actions. there is no such thing as a perfect parent but most of us try to do what we think is right. I stopped blaming my pareents forr my problems when I had teenagers of my own.

(I know there are grammer and spelling issues in this, please ignore them and just read)

Being a mom with a child that has ADHD. I am on the fence with this. My child has attention issues but these kid need very strong limits and behavior management plans. If a parent is not willing to put forth that effort then they will have a child that behaves badly.

My daughter may be a bit impulsive but I have taught her and given her empathy. As a result she does not have a mean bone in her body. School loves her - despite her ADHD diagnosis I am lucky not to get calls about her behavior.

When you have a child with a Psych Diagnosis you can not just be a good parent. You have to be the best parent you can be.

A parent that has a child with Bi Polar disorder or Schizophrenia has even more on their plate. Don't give up - early intervention with firm limits and a good behavior plan will go a long way.

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2010 and we are asking this question? YES! So what are you going to do about it? Someone mentioned 10 year olds. They are normally in 4th grade and know right from wrong, but many parents AND public schools give them excessive warnings . . too many . . . .because they are too busy . . . . and you can't 'stop' everything because of one child . . . . Are we digging up the corpse of Dr. Benjamin Spock? God forbid. You cannot wait until a child is in their teens to teach them the law of retribution. Do so and you have 'bad' kids with the exception of the joyful handful who 'turnout' in spite of their parents. WASP

YA YA Ya Ya all that sounds good but here is the ugly truth. We make excues about these little bad as# rug rats there parents don't teach them respect manners disiplin.That's to old school.The kids act like we do and what they see around them. When you get up to go to work your child shoud be up getting ready for the day make the bed wash face brush teeth eat and help u the parent wash dishes and of to school on time. no excuess!!!!!!!!! If your childern don't do at least 60% of the house work and you work all day to take care of them you are your kids problem. Oh dont spank your kids that's bad put them in time out ha ha ha let your kid get cought breaking the law you are the one who will court cost lawyer fees.That the good story on the other hand get cought by some like me trying to rob or steal from my family and he meets mr COLT 1911 .45 the game changes. The children our children some so blame good parents for bad seeds bad parents for bad seeds they will be delt with .