Child Punishment

1 Pages 358 Words

No Punishment for Children Sins


Parents can only beheld for certain limitations of their children’s behavior,

“Punishment for the sins of the Children, John Leo stated that both stigmatize parents

with their assumption that a child’s misbehavior results from failure of parental super

visions”(440). I feel that parents should not be responsible for the sins of there children.


Parents don’t know what there children do when there out of there sight. John Leo

states that “hundreds of exasperated communities, large and small, are holding parents

responsible for curfew violations, graffiti damage and crimes by their children”(440).

I can remember one time when I acted out in school and my teacher responded saying

your mother would be ashamed to see how you’re acting. My mother wasn’t present so

how could she be ashamed of my behavior at the time.


Children have two personalities where they can become like Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

John Leo states that, “In devastated urban areas, however, the practical and ethical

problems are very different. It can look as though poor mothers are being punished for

sins of children they can’t control”(440-441). I have a cousin who was arrested for selling

drugs at the age of 14 the authorities were trying to hold his mother responsible, by

saying that she knew her son was selling drugs and they sought to find a type of

punishment for her. I feel that she shouldn’t receive punishment for what she claim she

didn’t know because as I said earlier children can play double roles and the parent/parents

wouldn’t even know it.


Therefore parents can only be responsible for certain limitations of their child/

children behavior. In the story, Leo said that Patricia Holdaway was the first parent

charged under the curfew law of Roanoke Va. This I felt was unjust a lot of parents...