Who's to Blame- kids or their parents??

[Shazza36]

You may have read in he national press about the 'happy slapper' girl who recorded her friends beating a man to death. Who is to blame for this behaviour? The girls mother states its not her fault and is blaming Social Services, but having seen this mother on the bus laughing and joking with a friend this week i personally think she is to blame I wouldn't be able to hold my head up if I thought a child I had brought up was capable of behaving like this. Parents should be prosecuted if they can not control their kids and yes I'm a parent of teenagers and they have been taught the difference between right and wrong it really isn't hard to do. Its time the government got real and brought these parents before he courts with their children. ANyone else got thoughts on this matter?

[brionon]

The Parents Are to blame, but many who write here will blame''Our Masters in Brussels'' others will blame 'New Labour.' I would like to see the Parents of those who kick people to death go before the TV. cameras and explain themselves.

[ELVIS68]

Parents, if they bring their kids up properly this sh!t wouldn`t happen

[Kathyan]

I brought up my three children on my own until the youngest was 11. Because I was brought up to respect other people and their property, they were brought up the same way. They have all grown up to be hardworking adults and none of them has ever been in trouble. So, yes, I think the parents are to blame. People seem to want children these days, but not the responsibility that comes with them.

[tiggerblue10]

The parents need to grow up first!

[Aprillove]

See this from 2005:
Jemma, Jade and Natasha Williams, who receive benefits totalling more than �31,000 a year, are raising their babies alone after they became pregnant within three months of each other.

The sisters, aged 12, 14 and 16 when they gave birth, live in Derby with their twice-divorced mother, who holds the education system responsible for their plight.

"I blame the schools - sex education for young girls should be better," said Julie Atkins, 38. "More and more kids are getting pregnant younger and younger and sex education needs to start a lot earlier.
Jemma, the youngest sister, was the first to become pregnant, giving birth to her son T-Jay in February last year. Then, in November, Natasha, 16, who had already had two miscarriages and an abortion, had Amani. The next month, Jade, 14, gave birth to daughter Lita.

Jemma and Jade, who is about to take her GCSEs, are still in school.

The family lives rent-free in a three-bedroom council house, which they claim is too cramped. Their mother claims benefit for Jade and Jemma, now 15, as well as for their children. However, she said that day-to-day life was a struggle.

"It's really difficult to survive on what we have," she said. "My average shopping bill is �90 a week, and then there's all that extra stuff like toys, nappies and medicine.

"The house is far too small. I have to share a bedroom with Natasha and Amani which is very cramped. Hopefully we may be able to get a bigger house, but who knows?"

Mrs Atkins, who had her first child at 20, said she was astonished that her daughters had become pregnant so young. "It just doesn't seem possible," she said.

[tiggerblue10]

OMG Aprilove,

Two miscarriages and an abortion by the time she was 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tigerlily11]

Did she not think to tell the girls herself about sex?
It is not the schools job to insight a little morality into children. If it was then we should be paying the schools to bring them up and tell these lame brain parents that if they want the money they can go and earn it.
If they don't want the resposibility then you take away the kids and make sure they can't have any more.

[weeal]

a lot of parents dont take responsibility for anything nowadays, including teaching their children right from wrong, ive heard folk say "thats what the school is for" - it all stems from home and a lot of parents just cant be bothered and opt for a quiet life letting their children do what they want

[Quoi]

I think its the grandparents this was the generation where standards started to decline - this current generation of 10-18 yearolds parents probably new no better?

[Le Chat]

The fact that she blames social services for this incident tells me that it is her fault!!
I don't even know who 'social services' are, where they are or why I would ever need to use their service! It's not two words I would ever use in conversation as they are as remote to me as the planet mars! So why is this woman blaming them?