Juvenile Delinquency: Who should be Blamed? Parents or Children?

According to Google, a juvenile refers to a young person, minor or someone below the age of eighteen while deliquency refers to a minor crime committed by a juvenile that is, a young person.

All together, juvenile delinquency refers to the habitual committing of criminal acts or offences by a young person, especially one below the age at which ordinary criminal prosecution is possible.(Oxford dictionary)

So, the question now is who is to blamed for this act, is it the parents or the child?

Parents can be said to be responsible for this deliquent act because they play a crucial role in their children's lives. Immaturity on the part of the parent is a major reason. Nowadays, we see children giving birth to children, and what you don't have, you can't give. In the sense that, a parent who is not matured and does not possess enough knowledge and experience in nurturing a child will fail as a parent.

Also, the issue of juvenile delinquency is so rampant now because parents me want to be 21st century parent. Yes the world is revolving still, the way we discipline/correct children is not meant to change. Whereby we are now imbibing the foreign culture as our own. Just like the Bible says in proverbs 13:24, spare the rod and spoil the child. This means that as a parent if you refuse to discipline a (wild) child, such child will get so used to his ways which will eventually lead to regret. Let's look at the story of the two children of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas in the Bible.These two did abominable things in the sight of God. They were men given to greed and lust while they served as priests of the Lord. Although, their father when he heard of the evil things they are doing, pleaded to them to change their ways which fell on deaf ears. It was too late then. Their father-Samuel could have removed them from their offices but he didn't. And he later suffered for it. So a parent that does not take drastic action in correcting a child will be blamed at the end.

Another contributing factor is broken homes. Children who come from a broken home tend to be violent, depressed or socially withdrawn. It might affect such child academically, socially, emotionally and even mentally. Check the background of a bully, a rapist or a drug addict you will discover that majority of them are from broken homes.

We can also say that parents that give more attention to their career rather than their children should be blamed for juvenile delinquency. Yeah, as a parent you need money to take care of your children, their school fees, clothing and food. At the same time, if you refuse to make time for your child/children, you will have yourself to be blamed. As long as your career is important so are your children too or what happened to family first. In situations like this, a child will lack parental care and crave for one. For instance, your child tries to ask you a question or maybe needs help with his/get assignment and all you do is to put such child off and this happens consistently. Now, the child won't feel free with you and might end up asking strangers who would gladly help and sometimes mislead him.

A violent home is another major factor. It is called domestic violence.Here, the husband beats the wife even in front of the kids. This isn't a good experience or something a child would like to see and might suffer from a disorder known as PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). According to Google, PTSD is a disorder characterized by failure to recover after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. This is often followed by a reaction. A child that witnesses this brutal act by his father, may want to take revenge but because if father is stronger and older than he is, he becomes helpless and unable to help his mom. Such child look for ways to vent his anger on anybody including his friends, juniors and anyone that comes his way. And that is how bullying starts.

But can this entirely be the parent's fault? Isn't a person responsible for his actions, no matter how young he/she is. Aren't orphans doing well in life? You may ask.

Let's start with curiosity. Curiosity is the nature of man. You can also call it inquisitiveness. It is wanting to know more not caring about the result, the hurt it will bring. You will notice as a parent this character in your child/children. You can tell such child, no don't put your hand inside the fire, you will get burnt but that curious nature will make the child go ahead and touch the fire. Children, especially teenagers want to try out new things in the name of exploring or having fun; they want to know how it feels to be high, how great sex is without considering the consequences. They believe that their parents don't want them to enjoy life, forgetting that what an elder sees sitting down,a child might not see such even if he climbs the highest mountain. The parent here has taught the child morals but the child decides to go the wrong way.

Peer Pressure:We can also blame this on peer pressure. It is wanting to do things others are doing knowing it's bad. It is the negative influence your friends have on you or you getting oppressed by your friends (not directly) but because of the expensive things they use like phones, clothes, wristwatches and many others. You also want to feel among which makes you engage in demeaning activities like prostitution, hookup and online fraud AKA yahoo.

Social Media: We can as well blame this on social media. Social media now promotes the forbidden, makes it look like prostitution is good. Now you go online and everytime you see immoral dressings and betting sites. Such child can secretly steal his or her parent's money and bet with it.

Bad friends: Just like the adage says a sheep that walks with a dog will eventually eat shit(faeces) so it is with having bad friends. These kind of friends end one's life. Just like the story of Amnon and Tamar in the Bible. Amnon raped his half-sister as a result of the bad advice he took from his friend. Some have taken heed to their friends advice to take drugs, rape their friends or family or go into drugs which has landed them in a rehab.

This topic was used as a debate in my church yesterday as part of the children's day presentation.

I hope you enjoyed reading.Don't forget to like, subscribe and upvote for more articles from me. Thank you!