Parental Responsibility

Parental Responsibility

Parents can only be so responsible for their children's actions, as at the end of the day everybody needs to take responsibility for themselves and their own actions. Parents are responsible for controlling the behavior of their children, but not necessarily the actions of the child. Parents have to make sure the child learns how to act properly in different situations. The parent's job is to make sure the child does not cause harm to themselves or others and that they follow the rules. If the parents do their part of teaching children what is right from wrong and having consequences for bad behavior there should be no questions about who receives credit or blame for the children's actions and decisions. One example where the parental responsibility of ones actions are questioned in the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer as to whether or not McCandless parents should be blamed for his death. (Krakauer). Parents should not be held responsible for their children's actions as they can only guide their children in the right direction and hope they learn right from wrong as they grow up.

First of all, it depends on the age of the children and the type of action you are talking about. If a child is in a pre-operational or concrete-operational stage where the concept of consequences are still hard to understand than the parents are responsible to help the child understand the concept that for every action there is a reaction. For instance, if a two year old child takes another toy from another child is that his parents fault? No, at the age of two children really do not understand how to ask for a toy or share. But, at this time it is the parents responsibility to correct the child and introduce them to sharing. However, if a two year old child hits and screams at another child in most cases it has to do with the parents. The child's at home life may be considered to be abusive so the parents may be blamed for being bad role models by allowing their children to soak up bad behavior patterns. When children act up and have the repeated misbehavior it is the parents responsibility to discipline the child and show them how to correctly act. The parents should make it known to the child that there are consequences for bad behavior and bad choices. If a parent is consistent and effective while doing this then the child will be well suited to take responsibility of their own actions because they would have had the support and guidance of their parents. Parents need to help their children to learn right from wrong, but at some point, the child has to take responsibility for his or her actions.

It is called "modeling" when a child learns from observing others. When it comes to children growing up they often mimic and learn from their parents actions. Image(Rees). This chart shows that no matter what the family structure children do mimic the behaviors and the percentage of mean behavioral is relatively the same for all sections. Children are like sponges and they tend to absorb everything around them, the good and the bad. It is natural for children to "want to grow up to be like their parents" so that is what they try to do. As stated in an article from Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy most times for children who have a parent who currently smokes or smoked they are more likely to be motivated to try smoking as well. (Wilkinson). Where as if the parents were to have an open relationship with their children and explain that smoking is a bad habit the children will be aware of the consequences