Child’s learning begins at home
Poor parenting may be the cause of the recent school shootings

By Kristin Delorantis
Skiff Staff

A school shooting occurred Monday near San Diego, Calif. It was another in a series of adolescent terrors popping up across America.

Where does this type of activity originate? There is a vast amount of controversy concerning the answer if there even is an accurate solution. It is a strong possibility that this delinquent behavior begins in the home.

Parents are to blame for children acting in this manner. Whether a child’s parents are too strict or not strict enough, the child acts according to how he or she is raised and what he or she sees.

When a child is the product of overly strict parents, he or she tends to rebel and act against his or her parents’ rules and regulations. The child partakes in criminal activity to gain control of the situation and perhaps prove that parents are not the ones in control.

In a situation in which parents are not strict enough, a child is left to act in any way he or she pleases. In many cases, parents are unaware of what movies and television shows their child is viewing, which also plays a major part in the violence sparked.

Parents that are too involved in their 9-to-5 jobs do not have time to pay attention to their child and may not even know when something is going wrong. The teen years, which are a tough time for children, force them to deal with a lot of self-esteem and social issues. Many parents feel they are doing an OK job of parenting if they buy their child anything they request and sit down to dinner with them occasionally. It takes a lot more than that.

Also, a child might strive to receive attention from parents by exhibiting delinquent behavior. The child might not understand that he or she would suffer the consequences for their actions. The child is merely concerned with winning the attention of his or her mother and father.

What a child witnesses behind closed doors also provokes criminal behavior. A child that grows up as the son or daughter of a murderer or rapist is not necessarily going to turn out as a convict. There is hope that the child might learn right from wrong before following in the footsteps of his or her mother or father. Children do inherit many traits exhibited by their parents, and there is a strong possibility that their actions are a product of what they have observed at home.

Whether that is what happened near San Diego this week is yet to be seen.

Kristin Delorantis is a sophomore broadcast journalism major from Mansfield.
She can be reached at (k.a.delorantis@student.tcu.edu).

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