A question of parenting

THE EDITOR, Madam:

A number of videos showcasing children’s poor behaviour in schools, and on the roads, have been sending shockwaves over the Internet. In spite of these poorly behaved children, they are victims, like teachers and any other adult in authority who are charge to care for them during any given time. But, who are the persons responsible for these children’s ill-mannered behaviour?

A child’s first point of contact is at home, not the school or the Church, as we would like to believe. The parents are the ones to instill values and discipline, the school and the Church will further add to those teachings. But are the children been properly supervised by their parents?

An example of this lack of parental involvement was depicted in a video circulating which shows a little boy caught after stealing an elderly woman’s $500 at knife point; this act allegedly masterminded by two minors. My claim of poor parenting was substantiated when it was further reported that when their home was visited, their parental guidance was questionable. If parents were involved in these children’s lives, this might have been a different case.

Poor academic performance is another outcome of the injustice done to these children by their parents’ lack of involvement. According to a study done, ‘A child’s education starts at birth, experts agree, and the most crucial years of learning actually come in the first six years of a child’s life. This means it is parents who hold the key to a child’s future academic success’ (Smith, 2011). The children are failing, which result in a failing school, because the parents are failing.

Something needs to be done; these children’s behaviour is seen as juvenile delinquency, but what do we call the parents’ behaviour? Parents only responsibility seems to be to make babies and pass them on to society (PATH programme, detention centre)! The authority needs a name for this act, its needs to be called what it is; the parents are the culprits for having these children who are hurting so badly.

Keisha Powell

Educator