SURELY there is a better way than locking up my mother? pleaded the eldest daughter of Patricia Amos, who faces another day in jail today.

Ms Amos is the Oxfordshire mother-of-three who has become the first parent in Britain to be sent to prison for her children's truancy.

But, as the furore continues about punishing parents for their children's lack of school attendance, surely the real question is: why has this not happened before?

No one wants to see innocent individuals locked away from families.

But, equally, everyone is fed up with children dictating life today.

Don't want to eat decent food? That's all right -- here's a burger.

Don't want to go to school? Never mind, I'll just switch on the telly.

Don't think it's right that your neighbours have a nice car or a pleasant garden? No problem -- it's fine to trash it.

Today, I feel real sympathy with Ms Amos. Not because she is in prison, but because -- probably for the first time -- she is realising that when it comes to parenting, she got it badly wrong.

Her daughters, who look like perfectly ordinary girls, are 13 and 15. But, they have not attended school regularly for two years.

So, when the youngest was just 11, probably had just started at secondary school, and the eldest was considering her study options for GCSE, Ms Amos did not believe it was important enough to monitor whether her children had lessons or not.

It is easy to forget that this family simply did not arrive at this situation.

Instead, it took years of consistent refusal to recognise that her daughters needed some sort of proper education. And that, day by day, they were at home instead of at school.

Children are maddeningly difficult to regulate at times. Teenagers are easily the worst and, of course, a "teenage" attitude starts around age 11 these days.

They challenge us in the worst possible ways, making us as irrational and truculent as they are. Bringing out the worst in us, as well as the best.

No one said that being a parent was easy. It is, quite simply, the hardest job in the world -- forever. But, it is also the best "job" in the world, with the most rewards, and the most love.

It is a job, though. It is something that we sign up for when our children are gurgling babies, even before that when we conceive them. We call it "making love".

There is, however, a great feeling now, backed up by the law, that children's "rights" are somehow more important than anything else.

But "rights" do not mean letting them do as they please.

It means giving them parameters, discipline, love and, above all, role models. What use is "do as I say" rather than "do as I do"?

Without these basic tenets, children struggle to grow into mature adults able to contribute to society, and bring up their own children properly.

Ms Amos may have had a particularly difficult life. The girls may have been bullied, or suffered other school problems. There may have been extenuating circumstances.

But, the bottom line is that there is really no excuse for denying children an education.

There is no doubt that the two girls here, Jackie and Emma, have had a short, sharp shock that will probably jolt them into attending school once more.

Or, that their mother has not been as traumatised by the current situation.

But, Patricia Amos's situation was always going to happen because, in this country today, we refuse to acknowledge that we are largely failing in our duty as parents.

The result is that gangs of badly educated, "feral" children roam our streets, looking for their fun where they want it.

And whether it means stealing cars, wrecking property or mugging pensioners, these are their "rights" it seems and no one can stop them. Well, jailing the very people who have helped them become what they are seems to me to be an excellent start.

And if in Bolton, on May 14, 2002, the fact that Patricia Amos is in prison means that just a few feckless parents take a second look at their situation and find a way to get their children to school, then the law has been proved right.

DO you agree or is jailing parents wrong? Write in with your views to: Letters to the Editor, Bolton Evening News, Churchgate, Bolton BL1 1DE or email shughes@boltoneveningnews.co.uk