WHAT is this world coming to?

Sixteen-year-old schoolgirl Lauren Edmunds, from Darlington, beaten up for entertainment (Echo, Aug 27).

The teenagers involved in this attack should be punished to the full extent of the law and their parents should punish them too.

As for Lauren's "friends", if they were real friends they would not have let this happen. I say well done to the boy who tried to stop the beating before he was overpowered.

If I had behaved like today's teenagers do then my parents would have punished me and that scared me. I hated them for doing it, but I realise that they were trying to teach me right from wrong and that has made me a better person, as well as a better mother to my daughter.

Parents, take control of your children because you are the adults.

You should be the one in charge and that is something that no parent should ever forget. Punish them by taking their favourite possessions off them until they understand that you are the boss and whatever you say they do.

Nicola Halliwell, Darlington.