Who is responsible for their children's behavior?

Recently a special friend of mine told me that an individual in their church blamed the government for our children's behavior. This is not a new mindset. Many believe that the govenment, through our school systems brainwash our children into believing that their parents are idiots and that they should not have to listen to them or anyone one else in authority.

I would like to prove that myth wrong with a few examples that I have personally witnessed or read about. I am a School Resource Officer at Craig County Middle and High School. That simply means that I am a police officer in the school. Although I love my job and am glad that I have this job I still find it sad that we have came to a point in history that police officers have to be assigned to work in schools on a daily basis.

Why has it come to this? Is it the fault of the government? Is it the fault of the school systems? Is it the fault of the children themselves? I used to be one who blamed the government for everything. A kid goes out and shoots someone down in the street; the government brainwashed them into doing so by not censoring violent movies. A kid becomes a drug addict;the government did not do enough to educate them. A kid becomes pregnant; the government told them sexual promiscuity was ok.

Recently certain situations and events have drastically changed my mind. A teacher recently shared with me that a student told her taha the student's mother told her she did not have to listen to any teacher or anyone else in the school. She could do what she wanted. A school teacher in another county put his hand on a student's chest to prevent him from coming into his classroom due to the student's disruptive behavior. This young man's parents petitioned for charges of assault against the teacher.Thankfully common sense and sound reason prevailed and the charges were dismissed against the teacher.

This would have been a great lesson if the story ended there but the parents of this student have filed a civil lawsuit against the teacher and the school for causing their son emotional stress, embarassment and undue fear for his safety. They stated in the suit that their son has not been able to deal with the stress of being pointed out as a troublemaker in front of his classmates. What the lawsuit does'nt state is that their son  is a regular visitor to the principal's office for various unaccepatable behaviors.

I learned of a parent who came to the school to complain about her daughter being bullied by other students. This would have been a legitimate complaint if not for the fact that the student has missed over fifty days of school this year. The parent blamed the abscences on her daughter's fear of coming to school.

Upon close examination of these few short examples I believe that we can safely conclude that one of the biggest contributions to student misbehavior and disrespect is the parents themselves. They have empowered their children by encouraging them to openly defy authority, defending them even when it is clear that they are in the wrong and making excuses for them when they refuse to grow up and deal with the daily pressures of life.

That being said, I would like to conclude by pointing a finger directly at the children themselves. There comes a time in the life of every human being when we must accept responsibility for our own actions and decisions. I know this flies against all that is politically correct but guess what it has been like thsis throughout history and it will never change.

Parents let your children grow up and quit crippling them mentally and emotionally. Children quit making excuses for your WRONG choices and accept the consequences for your WRONG actions. I think that you would see that life would be much better for evryone involved.