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TEACHING
YOUR CHILDREN
TRUE
MORAL STANDARDS
.
W
HEN BABY ÍS
finally
born, doting par–
ents look expec–
tantly for those distinctive
features that make that help–
less, bundle of joy something
special to them:
"He looks like you! "
"He's got your mannerisms and
your smile."
But when he (or she) grows up,
who will he
think
like?
ls there any way we can know?
After aJI, even the world's worst
dictators were all adorable babies
once.
Why Child Vandalism and Vi o lence
Reports from around the Western
28
by
John D. Stettaford
world show the immense change
that occurs from infancy to adoles–
cence. Vandalism is mostly com–
mitted by teenage cbi ldren between
the ages of 14 and 16. According to
one police crime report, an average
London child, for example, will
have committed lOO thefts by the
time he leaves school at age 17-
that is, if he's average! Petty thefts
maybe, but criminal
theft
nonethe–
Jess.
Nowadays young thugs seem to
"patrol" the streets of Western cit–
ies in packs. Typical was the group
of Italian youths who sadistically
tortured, repeatedly raped and
finally brutally murdered a 19-
year-old girl in Rome just " for
kicks." Such young thugs were
once unheard of except for the iso–
Jated incident. This group were
late-teenage sons of wealthy par–
ents- parents who didn't and
would not subscribe to that kind of
conduct.
Surely the children who commit
such acts aren't learning this kind
of behavior from Mother and
Dad-or from school? So where
' are
they learning it? In the home
on television, at movies and from
peers in and out of school.
No Moral Consclence?
Indications are that young people
judge the seriousness of a crime
against the value of the item stolen.
They also feel that the severity of
the punishment shou ld depend
Reports from around
the Western world
show that vandalism is
mostly committed by
teenage children
between the ages of 14
and 16. Nowadays
young thugs seem to
"patrol" the streets of
Western cities in
packs.
the
PLAIN TRUTH