A parenting expert says modern mums and dads are raising a generation of "saps" - by choosing the "easy way out" and "placating" kids with screens. "

Katie Jackson Park, 43, believes parents today have "lost their backbone" and need to return to core values - such as setting boundaries - and help kids learn life skills."

She advocates for families to spend "conscious time" together, rather than reaching for technology which she says should be used "as currency". "

Katie believes kids should be "bored" sometimes and by not being taught the right way to behave says they'll struggle to regulate emotions or "navigate the world" as they get older. "

She and her husband, Paul, 54, a radio consultant, raise a blended family of seven kids.

She honed her parenting skills while raising her biological children - sons Mox, 17, and Magnus, 14, and daughter, Zali, 13.

She's also helped to raise her stepson Henry, eight, and Paul's other children - Tommy, Georgia, and Grace, who are now in their 20s.

Katie, a radio producer, from Sydney, Australia, said: "Modern parents choose what they think is the easy way out and placate children with screens."

"But we're going to have a generation of kids who are absolute saps because of this."

"It's driven by guilt - because families need two parents to work these days to afford the cost-of-living, so we're all really busy and overstretched."

"But kids aren't being taught the right way to behave, how to regulate emotions, or how to navigate the world."

"Sometimes you have to be bored and look out the car window and see what's around you."

"I see families out to dinner - parents on iPhone and kids, even toddlers, on iPads, it's really sad."

"Parents are too afraid to take away the tech - they say kids will hate them, but you're not there to be liked you're their to parent and that means setting boundaries."

"I don't believe technology is evil - parents should use it as currency."

Katie took parenting advice from a book called 'Love Baby' - as well as Jo Frost also known as Supernanny.

Katie said: "Jo Frost is brilliant - we need someone like her to come and shake it up again."

"Modern parents have lost their backbone and they reach for tech rather than finding creative solutions to problems or spending time as a family."

"Parenting is really hard - ultimately doing a good job means giving them the skills to leave you, and that's heartbreaking."

"But you'll save yourself and them from huge dramas in their 20s if you put in the hard work when they are young."

Kate has written a series of parenting books - one called 'The Shut Down' is about a sleep technique she used in her own parenting.

It involves creating time to switch off at the end of the day and minimal interaction if kids get out of bed after lights out.

Katie said: "Kids are overstimulated and reaching for iPads doesn't help with that."

"Instead an intimate moment with mum and dad, such as reading a book, helps them to connect so they can settle and sleep more easily."

"Rubbing between their eyes helps them to feel sleepy."

"Once you know all their needs are met you need to leave the room so they can go to sleep, and if they get out of bed just gently put them back, no eye contact and just a little pat on the back or head."

"It's very tiring but the number of times you have to put them back to bed reduces really quickly each night if you stick to it."

"I put my own daughter back to bed 97 times the first night - it was exhausting."

Katie said having a good bed-time routine also helps, including having no tech within one to two hours of bedtime.

She is writing her third book - 'Get A Fucking Backbone: Parenting Guide'.

Katie said: "Tech has changed a lot over the years, but our core values as parents, about what is acceptable and what isn't, shouldn't change."

"Parenting isn't about giving in to every whim, it's about teaching them how to behave."

"If you always give in and don't stand firm about where they are or what state their room is in it suggests you don't really care."

"You don't have to constantly nag or be military, but kids thrive on you holding boundaries for them."