Parenting Has Its Limits….
This article is prompted by the flood of social media posts and debates surrounding the recent CJP movement, where videos of some youngsters using abusive, unruly and undignified language in public have led many to conclude that the problem is simply “bad parenting.” While those incidents sparked this reflection, the issue extends far beyond any one movement or event.
Whenever a group of youngsters behaves irresponsibly in public, the first reaction is almost always the same: “This is bad parenting.” It is an easy explanation, but rarely the complete one.
Parents remain the first and most important influence in a child’s life. Teaching values, discipline, respect, empathy and responsibility begins at home. That responsibility cannot be outsourced, and no parent should walk away from it.
At the same time, raising children today is very different from what it was a generation ago. Most middle-class and upper-middle-class parents spend long hours earning a livelihood, coping with rising costs and trying to provide the best education and opportunities for their children. They can guide, support and correct, but they cannot be present every moment of every day.
Children are no longer shaped only by their families. They are influenced by friends, social media algorithms, influencers, OTT platforms, online gaming communities and an endless stream of content available at the tap of a screen. A smartphone often competes with the home as a source of ideas, behaviour and values.
That makes the environment around our children just as important. When vulgarity is applauded as confidence, abuse is packaged as humour, reckless behaviour attracts millions of views, and every criticism is dismissed in the name of freedom of expression, young minds notice. They imitate what society rewards far more than what it merely preaches.
This is not about shifting blame from parents to someone else. Parents must do their part. Schools must do theirs. Media platforms, content creators, technology companies, policymakers and every one of us also shape the world in which children grow up. Rights and freedoms are essential, but they carry responsibilities too.
So perhaps the real question is not, “Who is to blame?”
Perhaps the better question is:
Are we,parents, teachers, media, policymakers, technology platforms, influencers, public figures and society as a whole,setting the example we expect the next generation to follow?
Because children do not learn only from those who raise them. They learn from what we celebrate, what we tolerate, what we ignore, and ultimately, from the world we choose to create around them.