Commentary on the issue of juvenile delinquency
In Singapore, there have been an increasing number of youths staying out late at night and getting involved in juvenile crimes. This has become a cause of worry for the police, which implemented past 11pm checks on groups of youth in 2006. Initially, this initiative seemed to be working its wonders but after a year, the problem arose again.
The incident being reported in this article is littering by a seventeen-year-old teenage girl. What if it were more serious crimes such as a gang fight or robbery? What would become of the victims and the offenders?
Imagine you are born into a broken family. Your father is drunkard who slaps you and your mother whenever he returns home drunk, reeking of beer. How would you feel? Would you even want to come home?
If it were me, I would rather run away from home.
There are many families who are in circumstances similar to the scenario above. Their parents either have to work extremely hard to provide for the well-being of the family or they may simply be unconcerned about their child. As a result, the children are neglected and they resort to other means to fulfill their own emotional needs. Some cut themselves to relieve themselves of the emotional pain while others find comfort in their friends.
The situation starts getting dangerous in the latter. While friends are supposed to be an avenue for them to share their pain, some youths unfortunately fall into bad company. Most often, this bad company show themselves as genial and trustworthy at first, but later start to instigate their friends to engage in illegal activities which include smoking, gambling, gang fights etc. The victims, in order to fill the void in their heart, turn to this bad company and follow them in their doings so as to gain acceptance in the group, even if it is against their will or conscience.
It is commonly said that the period of transition from childhood to adulthood is when one is most vulnerable to external influence. This is precisely why the government places a very heavy emphasis on building up a child’s moral values and character in primary school. Once the child becomes a teenager, there is hardly any control the parents have over him or her anymore. Of course, parents may resort to threats and punishments to exert control over their child, but will this do the child any good? Ultimately, the child has to be responsible for his or her own actions as it is his or her own personal choice to do what he or her wants.
Indeed, it is a very demanding task for parents to discipline and communicate with their children, especially if the parents are estranged or if the child is very rebellious. We, on our part, should do our best to cooperate with our parents to lighten their burden of raising us. Only then, would the rate of juvenile delinquency drop.
‘It takes two hands to clap’. Will you?
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