Monday, September 03, 2007

Whose children are they?

Time for another moralising rant, I am afraid!

Over the years I have noticed an increasing trend, at least in the UK, that has been highlighted following the recent shooting of an 11 year old boy in Liverpool by a so far unidentified teenager. The mother of the victim has been brave enough to speak out, saying that she blames the killer's parents, that people are failing to bring their children up as members of society, allowing them to act as they please.

And she is right.

I have seen this first hand. It can start when the children are very young:
  • It is nursery school's job to potty train the child.
  • It is the school's job to teach the child to read, write and count.
  • The parent is too busy or uncaring to teach the child right from wrong - sometimes the parents don't actually know themselves...
  • Keeping the child close to home is too much like hard work, so the child roams the streets, probably from the age of around 6, getting into trouble increasingly frequently for increasingly serious acts. The parents do not blame the child or themselves, they blame the Police and those who report problems to them. "Oh, you can't watch them all the time, can you?" My answer is "Yes you can - we do!"

Something that seems to make this worse is that it does not seem to be "politically correct" to tell someone that they are a bad parent and that it is all their fault. Will we ever have politician who is brave enough to stand up and demand that parents control their children and make them accountable if they do not? Maybe, but he might not last long...

9 comments:

Terri said...

I am with you on this one! I have been accused of being overprotective at times. But when I see my kids' classmates get into trouble (drinking, traffic violations, fights,drug use...) I feel very justified!

Rock Chef said...

And ti shows - look how great your kids are!

Ali said...

Yep, I wholeheartedly agree. Those parents need to quit blaming society and take a hard look at the way they are raising their kids.
I appreciate the way my parents were with me. They loved me and let me do pretty much what I wanted, within reason.
When I messed up I got my ass kicked, but I'm actually thankful that I did.

Rock Chef said...

Ali - the important thing is that you had boundaries, and paid the price if you stepped over them. That is how things should be.

Logzie said...

AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!!!!

Thank you for writing this...it needs to be said!

Society sits and scratchs their heads at how this could have happened but yet refuse to go to the root of the matter and deal with it!

Rock Chef said...

There is a surprising footnote to this one: I heard on the radio this morning that there is to be a new law. If a child has been excluded from school and subsequently causes trouble, the parents will be fined £50 per offense. Not perfect but certainly a step in the right direction!

Logzie said...

Yah, that's a big step in the right direction! YAY! I wish they would do something like that here...

James said...

Agree, agree, agree. I know where all my kids are at all times.

Anonymous said...

just found you! great post