What is the matter with our children today? Why are they rebelling against authority?
I have given those questions some thought over the weekend, and come up with the following reasons:
Drugs
Easy Money
Lack of motivation
Unemployment
Liberal mindedness by certain members of society
Over emphasis on the rights of children
Lack of suitable punishment
Broken Homes
Single Parents
Lack of parental skills
Lack of discipline in the home
Lack of moral fibre
Let’s examine these points in turn.
DRUGS
More and more of our young people turn to drugs. Why? Is it boredom? Is it lack of motivation to go out and work? Is it a cheap thrill? Is it an “easy” escape from the “boring” life they lead?
Whatever the reason it is a known fact that a huge percentage of drug taking is fuelled by crime – the necessity to get money to buy the illegal drug.
So where is the deterrent to taking drugs? Does the law and the criminal justice system actively discourage drug taking? Here the answer is often – No! Once a young offender enters the prison system it is a known fact that he/she will most likely become more involved with drugs.
Drastic crime requires drastic action, if we are not to be overwhelmed by the drug problem. It is obvious that the drug support systems are not working. Cease immediately the supply of Methadone to drug addicts. Lock the offender up and give them cold turkey. Confiscate every last penny from the convicted dealers and deport them at the end of their sentences.
EASY MONEY
Far too many children are indulged. They demand and get more or less anything they want. They don’t have to work for their wants. They are indulged by their parents. Hence they often don’t appreciate or value what they get. They live in an “I want – I deserve – I will get” kind of society.
Those children who can’t get what they want will often resort to stealing to get what they want.
The lack of parental guidelines here is an additional reason for the problem.
LACK OF MOTIVATION
In a society where you can get what you want without having to work for it there is no motivation to work, earn, save and achieve, and if you can get what you want by stealing (and not get caught) there is even less motivation to work! Even better, if society provides for all your wants with grants, benefits etc. then there is even less motivation to work. Why bother to respect others if they can be sponged off?
Respect for others needs to be inculcated in children from a very early age. Parents have a vital role to play in this.
UNEMPLOYMENT
The old saying “The Devil finds work for idle hands to do” is as true today as when it was first coined. Unemployed young persons can be found hanging around the streets, shopping centres etc. and it is not long before they are becoming a nuisance. Criminal damage and shoplifting can ensue.
We have bred a society of young people who lack the will to work. They are content to live off benefits and grants. It should be made a first prerequisite that all those unemployed people who are on benefits and grants should have to “earn” them. Nobody should be able to spend weeks lounging around living off the handouts of the state.
LIBERAL MINDEDNESS BY CERTAIN MEMBERS OF SOCIETY & THE OVER EMPHASIS ON THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN
How often do the best intentioned people cause problems by their tunnel vision and liberal mindedness? How many problems are caused by children who if checked will turn round and in no uncertain terms trot out their “rights.” Isn’t it time that these little monsters were taught that with “rights” come responsibilities?
LACK OF SUITABLE PUNISHMENT
Raise a finger to a disobedient child and you are likely to find yourself carted off to the nearest police station and charged with some offence or other that has come on to the statute books because of some liberal minded individuals.
Try the same thing with a teenager and if you are lucky enough not to get stabbed, you can expect to be at least charged with assault. What has happened to the rights of the responsible adults in our society???
BROKEN HOMES/SINGLE PARENTS
At long last I am beginning to see the rumblings of people who genuinely believe (and will state publicly) that children brought up in one parent families or broken homes are far more likely to become problem children, and eventually problem parents.
I am an organist, and play for something like 30 – 40 weddings each year. Regularly 5 or 6 of these weddings do not take place because the couples have “fallen out” between fixing up their wedding date and the actual wedding itself. It is better for this to happen, than for children to be involved and then a marriage break up.
LACK OF PARENTAL SKILLS/DISCIPLINE IN THE HOME/MORAL FIBRE.
So many children today are brought up in a home where parental skills are sadly lacking. To give you just a simple example, I know of children arriving at school who have not been taught to use a knife and fork when eating. These self same children lack social skills – the ability to share with others is often lacking.
Discipline in the home is often a case of sit down! - shut up! No explanation of the whys and wherefores. No teaching of right and wrong.
Is there any wonder we are breeding such a race of ill mannered, violent and rebellious children and young persons?
Just as an example of how far the average law abiding citizen has been placed at a disadvantage when facing an intruder, you may wish to read the following, which I came across on the BBC Internet news this evening
TV presenter Myleene Klass has said she has "no regrets" after being warned by police for waving a knife at youths who entered her back garden.The former pop star was in the kitchen when she spotted the teenagers and grabbed a knife and banged the windows in an effort to get them to leave.
She says Hertfordshire Police officers told her that brandishing an "offensive weapon" was illegal.
But a police spokeswoman said that "at no point" were any warnings given.
The 31-year-old was at her Potters Bar home on Friday with her daughter upstairs when she spotted the youths peering into the house.
Klass said: "It was a scary incident but I've got no regrets as to how I reacted. I think I did what any other mother would do.
"This is my house and that's my daughter up there and I will do anything to protect my daughter and my family. That's what I did."
The star was speaking at the launch of new ITV1 series Popstar To Operastar - which features former chart stars as they try to make it as classical singers.
Klass's spokesman, Jonathan Shalit, told the Sunday Telegraph the singer had been "utterly terrified" and was stepping up security at her home.
"Myleene was aghast when she was told that the law did not allow her to defend herself at home," he said.
"All she did was scream loudly and wave the knife to try and frighten them off.
"She is not looking to be a vigilante, and has the utmost respect for the law, but when the police explained to her that even if you're at home alone and you have an intruder, you are not allowed to protect yourself, she was bemused."
But a statement from Hertfordshire police said: "Officers spoke to reassure the home owner, talked through security and gave advice in relation to the importance of reporting suspicious activity immediately to allow officers to act appropriately."
It added: "For clarification, at no point were any official warnings or words of advice given to the home owner in relation to the use of a knife or offensive weapon in their home."
Mr Shalit could not immediately be reached for further comment.
Klass's fiance Graham Quinn was away on business at the time of the scare, but the couple's daughter was upstairs at the time the intruders were spotted.
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