I personally believe that, generally speaking, people tend to do what they can get away with.
If kids can call up pops for a couple hundred bucks and get it, then they will probably do it again.
Parents have to say NO.
Many people are scared of confrontation these days.
I just heard a story about a pair of grandparents that feel they are being taken advantage of as the built-in babysitter. Apparently their kids drop off the grandkids almost everyday. The grandparents are now planning to move many miles away just to get away from it.
Strange us humans.