Have you ever wonder what will your child turn out to be when he grows up? A good person? A bad person? Of course, we want our child to be a good gentle loving person with a good profession that able to support himself and his future family. In other words, we want the best for our child! If so, how do we nurture our child in the process of growing up? Are we doing our part to nurture our child properly with the right values? If we have not carry out our responsibility as a parents or caregiver/teacher to cultivate the good morals and values in our child, we are actually contributing more social problems in the future.
This morning, I was shocked to find that my car was being moved forward from its original parking. When I looked again, I found that the side window at the driver seat was broken. Someone is trying to steal my car at late night! The car thief cut my steering wheel to remove the security lock. However, I’m very fortunate that he is a clumsy thief. He didn’t manage to drive my car away because he broke his key in the ignition. Pity my poor car!
I’m very upset as the crimes are getting worse in our society. More and more crime cases are reported every day. Some housing areas even hire their security guard to protect their safety. My overseas friend once suggested me to jog around the neighborhood in the morning or evening as my daily exercise. I rather pay monthly fees to go to gym instead of risking my life jogging on the street. Why? Because I don’t feel safe at all. I don’t know if a motorcyclist will appear in front of me with a knife or a van coming from the back to grab me in the van and drive off. I’m not being negative, but it’s true that our environment is not friendly anymore. It’s just not safe anymore!
The incident brought me to thinking…how can we prevent crimes from happening? What is the major root of the crimes and social problems that keep happening around us? I strongly believe that family breakdown is the major root of crimes. For instance, parents who are busy with work or their own social life, do not spend quality time with their child. The child doesn’t get enough attention and affection from the parents. He feel neglected and will soon develops anger, hatred and other negative emotions. He doesn’t understand why his parents are not talking to him or spend time with him; he thought that his parents don’t love him; he thought that he is not important in the family as no attention is given to him. He doesn’t know how to differentiate right or wrong as no one tell him or share with him. He is easily influenced by people around him. He is attracted to people who are facing the same situation like him. Parents are too busy with their own life, they do not notice any changes in their child. The child develops anger towards himself, his parents, his family and later towards the society. He becomes rebellious and will do anything to get attention, excitement, release his anger and run away from reality. If he join the bad company, he becomes one of them. He starts smoking. Then he tries out Ecstacy pills, soft drugs…finally he has to rely on it. This is the beginning of his crimes-stealing, robbing and other illegal jobs to get fast money to ease his addiction.
I’m just relating a child from a good family background with no attention and love from his parents. What about children from abusive family or poor family, their percentage of committing to a crime is even higher.
In 1980s, Cleckley’s ideas on the cycle of violence concept (adopted in 1980s) based on the quality of early life relationships, found that supportive and loving parents who respond to the basic needs of their child instill self-confidence and an interest in social environments. These children are generally well-adjusted in relating to others and are far less likely to commit crimes. In nowadays society, most parents are working. No matter how busy we are, we have to prioritize our time for our child. Spend quality time with them without interruption such as handphone, television and friends. Spend time talking and communicating with our child. Be a good role model to our child.
If we always there for our child, do you think he will not turn to us whenever he faces problems out there? If we love our child, we tend to observe his behavior. If we love our child enough, we tend to be very patient in guiding them. Love and patience can overcome all the obstacles and difficulties in the process of bringing up and nurturing our child to be a healthy responsible members of society. Lets just do it to create a safe and harmonious society for our future generations!
