Editorial: Time for parents to step up

Is it just me or do the youngsters arrested for crimes these days seem to get younger and younger?

Call me old fashioned, but I was shocked to hear about the case last week of a 13-year-old boy picked up with other youngsters in a stolen car that had been driven from Auckland overnight. Then this week we have the tale of an 11-year-old boy and his 12-year-old brother who are allegedly involved in a burglary ring.

Figures on our front page today show alarming numbers of kids between the ages of 10 and 13 apprehended for acts intended to cause injury, burglaries, abduction, harassment and other related offences.

What is going on here? It may be easy to dismiss these cases as youngsters who come from the "wrong side of the tracks" or children from "bad families". But is that just an easy way out and is there some truth to the theory that children and teenagers - across all spectrums and to varying degrees - are being allowed to create their own standards?

It has been said thousands of times before, but children of my generation and the generations before me certainly were generally better behaved than today's children. This is, of course, a broad generalisation and quite a sweeping statement, but in essence it is true. How many times have you walked into a house where there are children and they have not even looked up at you, but simply carried on texting or playing their computer games? Not so long ago, children were forced by their parents to stand up and greet an adult who walked through the front door. Nowadays most parents could not be bothered and the kids would probably refuse anyway.

I am not saying that a child who does not have manners will necessarily go out and bash someone, but it is indicative of a slipping of socially acceptable standards.

So what is the answer? Some would say we should adopt a similar zero-tolerance policy to Rudi Giuliani when he was mayor of New York. Giuliani reckoned that if he targeted the taggers and vandals with hefty fines and jail, this would deter people from committing bigger crimes.

If we as parents start forcing our children to behave in an acceptable way and to have manners, will we see an end to 10-year-olds getting arrested for violent crimes?

It may even be broader than just parents because, let's face it, there will always be some parents who let their children run amok. Maybe it is time for adults in communities to feel confident enough to stop children behaving badly in public places without the fear of being bashed or accused of doing something wrong themselves.

They are children after all and it is up to us adults to set the standards.