Parents should be Responsible Children Violate Laws

Question: Discuss about the Article for Parents should be Responsible for Children Violate Laws. Answer: Introduction As per parental responsibility legislations, there are laws which actually hold parents liable criminally for any negligence or not controlling a childs illicit acts. Basically the statute is not holding parents for the criminal acts of the child but for not controlling the child adequately. At the state, social and municipal levels this is a popular statute and is one of the many ways societies are contemplating how to reduce juvenile criminalist acts in kids. The basic concept behind this is that children who are living with their parents gets affected and strongly impacted by the activities of the parents. In USA, legal mechanisms have always help parents accountable for their childrens actions (Cahn, 1996; Humm, 1991). California is the world leader in enactment of punitive parental liability legislations. It introduced the Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act of the year 1988. Under this legal guardians or parents are liable when there are evidences of inadequate care , protection, supervision and control made on minor child (California Penal Code Section 272). Such punishments can be in the form of fines, misdemeanors to even probation of five years or imprisonment. Nine more states have passed legislations similar to this (Mildon, 1996). It is considered that how a child is born and brought up at home has an impact on the development of his or her mind or thoughts. Styles of Parenting and Its Effect on Children The style in which parents shape up the development of their children is a long lasting source of theory scientists, thinkers, philosophers and parents have been researching about. The outcome of such studies is huge. We have composed it and concluded that there are the following four styles of parenting (Utting, 2007). Psychological speaking these are authoritative, neglectful, permissive and authoritarian. Each of these has a different set of characteristics and builds up different reactions in children. Here we will discuss these styles and their effect on children. Authoritative parenting This is the most beneficial and highly accepted style of parenting. These are parents who have their expectations set very high from their children. However they make adjustments to these expectations keeping the well being of the child in consideration. Children undergoing this style of parenting often show great discipline and behavior in their day to day activities. Neglectful parenting One of the most damaging ways to look after children is being neglectful to their needs. This is different from rest all other ways and here either the parent recognizes, or a family or close friend. In such a situation the child suffers the most showing emotional issues, outbursts, behavioral problems, concentration problems and inability to mix with other children. Permissive parenting Permissive style of parenting has some damaging effects too. These are parents who indulge their children. Responsive but not depending, these parents do not like confrontations and hence become lenient in many demands of the children which they should not. Children of such parenting can show indiscipline and an attitude of not being reasonable or understanding. Authoritarian parenting- The other name given to authoritarian parenting is strict style of parenting. Here there are given less open dialogues in between the child and the parent. There are rules and the child is expected to follow those rules. Children under this style of parenting show a healthy development (Hughes, 2013). There is a need of an ideal parent in the world. A psychological parent can be the answer to this. Psychological parents work on the child on a day to day basis. Using communication, interaction, mutuality, and interplay and exchanging ideas they cover up the psychological and physical needs of their children. They are always there for the financial or emotional support of the child. How one can become a good psychological parent highly depends on how well one can bond emotionally with the child A child up to the age of 7 years is known to be a doli incapax. It means he or she is considered as defense of infancy. Hence during this age they are not responsible for their actions. And this is the right age to mould them to have the best of characters or nature. Education, knowledge, civil and moral sense of responsibility must be ingrained in a child by the parent anytime till he or she is 7 years because this is the time when they accept and believe everything said by a parent (Koocher, 1990). The entire world today is focused on raising and improving development of children in every way possible. A real world example can be given for General Powell who has committed his life and for the past decade have been providing time, financial resource, energy and creativity in improving life of children in the nation. Under the name of Americas Promise Alliance, Powell with his wife Alma Powell is advocating the needs of the younger generation (Anonymous). Parents to be Held Responsible Only Personally, the argument is in favor of the fact that parents should be held responsible for the actions of children. It is believed that it depends highly on the age of the child when he or she makes the crime and depending on that one can hold the parents as responsible. In the real world the right answer highly depends on the State where such an incident has occurred. Numerous cases of children stealing, calling for fake bombs, sexually assaulting or using a shotgun in schools made it call parents to be responsible for their kids actions. Almost 36 States today claims parents are responsible when kids break the law. In Tennessee a small 8 year girl child was shot dead by another 11 year boy kid over a fight for a puppy. During school lunch for a $10, a school boy was stabbed to death in London. High publicized juvenile crimes like shootings in schools have further increased awareness of parental responsibility (Fablo, 2008).There are many States which have adopted statutes of parental responsibility legislations based on their own locations. When such laws will be implemented universally, then it will provide enough data to analyze how effective they are. As per Graham "We have an adult problem, nota children problem .... If we can get our adults together, the children will naturally fall in line" (Graham, 2000). Conclusion From the exterior it is a belief that parents are to be held up for the crime committed by their children as the parents are totally responsible for the upbringing and education of the children. Their actions and behaviors have huge influence over the thought process, beliefs and actions showcased by the children. The primary reason for this is when a child starts learning things the parents are the first people they know and starts understanding. This has given the conception that if children do not behave properly it is because of the parents. If they commit a crime it is also because of the parents. It is considered that maybe parents have neglected them or they are simple bad parents. However there are ample cases that can be proved as evidence that even after parents doing everything for their child, giving them proper care, attention and education that tend to get attracted to the negative and gets tempted to commit a crime at a very young age. In such a situation there is no p oint to blame parents. Parents really do not have a complete control on their children. They cannot be with the children 24 by 7, not at school, not at their art classes and not while they are spending time with other kids on the block. Hence once again to conclude to blame a parent for the crime committed by their children one must look at the age and State where the incident has taken place. One must understand the lifestyle of the family in concern and then come to a fair conclusion. References Cahn, (1996). Pragmatic questions about parental liability statutes. Humm, R. (1991). Criminalizing poor parenting skills as a means to contain violence by and against children. University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Koocher, G. P. Keith- Spiegel, P. C. (1990). Children, Ethics, and the Law: Professional Issues and Cases. Graham. (2000). Parental Responsibility Laws: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime. Utting, D. (2007), Parenting and the different ways it can affect childrens lives: research evidence Hughes, E. (2013), Types of Parenting Styles and How to Identify Yours, Retrieved from https://my.vanderbilt.edu/developmentalpsychologyblog/2013/12/types-of-parenting-styles-and-how-to-identify-yours/Anonymous, Leadership of General Colin Powell and Alma Powell, Retrieved from https://www.americaspromise.org/leadership-general-colin-powell-and-alma-powell