Parenting in our modern era is a complex process, and every parent in the period of children’s upbringing, regardless of his awareness and training, goes through trials and mistakes. However, due to their age, children cannot be responsible for themselves. They are part of the family, so these are parents who are responsible for their children’s behavior. Upbringing lies the basis and foundation of a person, and it is a family that, to a great extent, forms a child’s values and stances.
Scientists name many reasons that determine a child’s personality. The most well-known among them are heredity, environment, and upbringing (Muller & Kerbow, 2018). While heredity certainly plays a part there, there many examples of successful people whose natural parents were far from models of good behavior. Environment plays a huge role in a child’s socialization. However, the primary agent of socialization is the family. Parents serve as role models for the child and establish the basis of his development as they are the first people they communicate with. While the child is small and easily influenced, he learns through simulation, that is to say, by copying his parents’ actions. Providing an excellent example for a child at this early age, parents lie the basis for his future values and perceptions.
Many people claim that the educational role is transferred to educational institutions, such as kindergartens and schools, as a child grows. While these institutions certainly have a significant influence on a child’s upbringing, these are parents who help the child cope or fail when he starts his education. By being positive and encouraging, parents form such qualities as confidence and enthusiasm in a child, while being overly negative breeds irresolution, fear, and dissatisfaction.
It is no secret that children’s misbehavior and crimes are rooted in psychological or material problems. From the material side, parents should provide their children with a home, food, clothes, and necessary things. If the family does not give a child these basic things, he is likely not to look for them elsewhere. Many children are pushed to crimes by the harsh circumstances they live in. From the psychological aspect, when children feel that they cannot count on the unconditional support of their parents, they are likely to look for this support elsewhere. Peer groups often have an additional attraction to children who do not feel that they count in their own homes (Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2020). Peer pressure often triggers misbehavior and crimes when children are involved in gang groups where they feel they are appreciated. Not receiving enough love at home, children are often ready to commit crimes to be accepted by their new’ friends.’
On a governmental level, parents’ responsibility for their children’s actions is determined by legislative acts of different states. Practice shows that those states that have introduced parental responsibility for their children’s crimes have a lesser percent of child crimes than the states that do not have any responsibility for such actions. Parents could be more interested in educating their children about social norms if they know that they will be held accountable for their child’s crimes. The discipline instilled at schools is not enough for children if they lack the skills of social awareness and critical thinking. Holding parents accountable for their children’s actions will help create a safer world to live in, where every person can find their way to contribute to the prosperity of society at large.
References
Muller, C., & Kerbow, D. (2018). Parent involvement in the home, school, and community. In B. Schneider & J. C. Coleman (Eds.), Parents, their children, and schools (pp. 13-42). Routledge.
Nomaguchi, K., & Milkie, M. A. (2020). Parenthood and well‐being: A decade in review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(1), 198-223.