Parental Role in Juvenile Delinquency - Research Paper Example

Parental Role in Juvenile Delinquency It is every responsible parent’s desire to raise a smart and morally upright child. However, this is not always the case for many parents, whose children end up spiralling into an abyss of irresponsible behaviour, altering their life’s course for the worst. This most often happens at the critical phase of teenage, when most youngsters undergo emotional changes sometimes too difficult for them to comprehend. In most cases, parents are left questioning the possibility of this failure being their fault, while others conclude in despair that it is the adolescent’s fault (Fletcher, Steinberg and Williams-Wheeler 773-778). For many years, guardians and family issues practitioners have acquired information from extant research, indicating that teenage misconduct is dissuaded through parents asserting relatively elevated levels of behaviour control. Based on these investigative studies, in situations where parents regulate and monitor adolescents’ behaviour consistently, the latter have a lower likelihood of engaging in negative behaviour such as playing truant from school, delinquency, and substance abuse, among other problematic issues. Failure of parents to assert themselves not just as role models, but also as disciplinary figures within the family structure culminates in complete failure of a child (Tyler 785). Anna Tyler’s “Teenage Wasteland Short Story” is an excellent illustration of this scenario. In this book a parent, Daisy, fails to raise her son appropriately, instead opting to transfer this responsibility to a tutor, leading to his failure at school and eventual escape from home (Tyler 786). Tyler’s book confirms the imperative role that a parent should play, by motivating a child, executing appropriate disciplinary measures and establishing a positive relationship based on affection and trust, all in the effort of guaranteeing a smooth transition from childhood to adulthood. Based on research conducted by Fletcher, Steinberg and Williams-Wheeler (769-772), children that have positive relations with their guardians, have a high likelihood of disclosing information concerning their struggles with troubling issues. As a result, they would consult their parents for solutions, before the problem escalates. Additionally, such constructive parent and child relations most likely exist within families where parents depict warmth and offer support to the children. This is, however, not the case in Anne Tyler’s short story “Teenage Wasteland”. The teenage character, Donny, is completely unmotivated performing poorly in his academic work. When Daisy, Donny’s concerned mother, notices the poor grades she employs a private tutor named Cal, in order to help him improve his grades (787-789). For a responsible parent, the most logical step would have been to question Donny about his performance, in order to establish the cause of the problem and find out how she could help. Shifting parental responsibility to someone else is neither a reflection of affection nor support. Another negative relationship is that between Cal and Donny, since he acts more like a friend than an adult figure. Further, Cal does not motivate Donny to perform better or to make responsible decisions. Because of the absence of a constructive relationship between Donny and his role models, coupled with the latter’s failure to adhere to proper success guidelines, the teen’s performance deteriorates further and his bad behaviour worsens. Based on research conducted by Stattin and Kerr (1072-1079) parents’ self-confidence inspires children to have higher self-esteem, since they believe that if their parents can achieve something, then they are capable of doing the same. Additionally, when parents assert themselves as firm and capable of handling situations, this also encourages children to rely entirely on them. Clearly, this is not the case in “Teenage Wasteland”, since Daisy lacks confidence in her parenting capabilities. This is an aspect evident not only from her act of handing over Donny to Cal, but also when she laments to the psychologist that she thinks she is to blame for Donny’s failure. Daisy’s low self esteem, and uncertainty about her parenting skills, is also apparent when she ponders over her attitude and that of her husband, while in Donny’s principal’s office. Daisy asserts that they both are “Failures, both of the kind of people who are always hurrying to catch up, missing the point of things that everyone else grasps at once” (790). It is this perception that prompts her to accept the psychologist’s suggestion that she should hire a tutor, even though this psychologist is known to have unorthodox recommendations. This negative attitude and failure to enforce her own rules over Donny, widens the rift between Daisy and her son. Eventually, Donny can only communicate with Cal and he assumes he is free to do whatever he wants, albeit detrimental (Stattin and Kerr 1080-1085). According to Fletcher, Steinberg and Williams-Wheeler (773-81), the primary forecast of an adolescent’s behavioural problem is the degree to which guardians are well-informed in regard to their kids activities. Such knowledge about children’s whereabouts is usually gained through parental inquiry or child voluntary reporting. The author insists that this parents’ knowledge about their children is a crucial parenting pillar. This is because, when parents or guardians are knowledgeable in regard to their kids’ behaviour and whereabouts, they are better placed to identify negative traits. Additionally, parents can use the knowledge they acquire, to execute proper and effective intervention measures thus lowering incidence of teenage misbehaviour. As shown in Tyler’s story, Daisy does not make the effort to acquire knowledge about Donny’s whereabouts and behaviour. She delegates this responsibility to Cal, who just like her, fails to set rules and regulations that would guarantee Donny’s behavioural and academic improvement. For instance, Daisy does not know the nature of Donny’s learning environment at Cal’s place. She does not even make the effort to monitor whether Donny actually attends the classes, and does not question the overly friendly association between him and Cal. This is unhealthy parenting, since a parent should not appear to support an association that negates the actual purpose of a tutor, which is to encourage academic improvement. Cal, on the other hand, appears to be taking advantage of Daisy’s unquestioning approval, to enhance his friendship with Donny. He is always telling Daisy to avoid worrying about her son’s grades, since it is more imperative for Donny to build his self-esteem first, before embarking on comprehensive studying. Further, the tutor’s house has virtually everything capable of distracting a teenage boy’s attention, such as constant rock music, a table tennis table, and music recording equipment. Cal even goes on to tell Donny that some students “stay on after their sessions, just to rap” (791). This is a clear indicator that Cal is not driven towards helping Donny succeed, and this is an aspect of which Daisy should be aware. Other dubious incidences include lending Donny rock music records, as well as, taking him and two of his friends to a concert featuring rock music. These activities go beyond the teacher-student limit, and they not only serve to distract Donny from schoolwork, but also seem to convey the message that having fun is better than attending school or good grades. Evidently Cal does not have clearly outlined guidelines for Donny’s academic success, and Daisy does not take any initiative to correct this detrimental trend. It is, therefore, rather obvious why Donny fails to make any improvement. Nevertheless, Daisy’s failure to act could be due to the fact that she has no knowledge of her son’s actions, and the assumption that Cal is responsible. This gives the implication that, parents can discourage teenage participation in misconduct, through engaging in activities that enhance knowledge about their kids’ lives. Parents should also exercise firm control over teenagers’ activities and people with whom they relate. Teenage motivation is a factor that every parent should uphold. According to a research done by Collins (222), motivation is determined by the amount of support offered by the parent to a child, in order to enable him or her to face the tough issues in life. Parents should be ready to support their children, in consideration of aspects such as school work and other imperative endeavours. Some of the children, especially in the adolescence phase, are lazy and unmotivated because their parents fail to notice the small negative issues, which later build up to form major development hurdles. For instance, in the story, Donny fails to succeed in his academic work in the long-run, a potential contributing factor to his ultimate escape from home. Additionally, the final escape could be attributed to the fact that he is unable to motivate himself towards becoming successful, and lacks the same from his parents and the tutor. Donny’s failure would have been avoided since, as Collins et al., (223) emphasizes, an adolescent would be able to adopt a positive attitude towards education, and ultimately become successful, with the right kind of motivation and guidelines. This is also evident in the commencement of the narrative, when Daisy personally monitors Donny’s homework. She implements rules that Donny should follow and this motivates him to work hard, in order to adhere to the set regulations. Consequently, there is notable improvement in Donny’s grades. His history teacher tells her mother that, when she used to supervise Donny’s homework, his grades had risen from a mean grade of D to a C. The improvement took place because Daisy had implemented rules and guidelines, which would have ultimately, lead to success. However, when Donny’s observation and regulation responsibility is transferred to his tutor Cal, there is abolishment of the prior structure that effectively guided and motivated Donny’s life. Donny is now answerable to Cal alone, and the latter presents no restrictions to his behaviour. Donny, therefore, gets little or no motivation at all from his mother and Cal, leaving him at a difficult position especially due to the fact that, he is barely mature to make responsible decisions or even motivate himself. This leads to Donny’s stagnation, and later makes him go on a spiralling decline. . Donny becomes isolated, but he does not realize that he needed self motivation in order to succeed. The deterioration is reflected in his grades, which get lower than they were before he had a tutor, and, to make matters worse, his attitude towards people and life in general follows the same downward spiral. As seen thus far, it is the parents’ responsibility to establish rules and guidelines for their children (Collins et al., 218-221). However, failure to establish a comprehensive and open communication framework would negate the purpose of the outlined rules and regulations. This is a notion primarily based on the fact that communication is the backbone of each and every successful family. Children need to be communicated to firmly yet affectionately, in order to enable them know where behavioural boundaries lie. In the narrative, Donny and his role models do not set up and adhere to the obligatory guidelines needed for success, thus leading to Donny’s ultimate failure. This was possibly due to the fact that Daisy did not posses enough confidence in her own parenting abilities and failed to execute an effective rule enforcing framework. Most importantly, Daisy seems incapable of communicating effectively with her son even when he does something wrong. For instance, instead of scolding Donny when he makes minor mistakes, she praises him and tells him that he is talented. Cal is also not able to communicate properly with Donny, and adopts the approach of talking with him like a friend other than an authoritative figure. This is yet another possible cause for Donny’s failure, since he feels like he is his tutor’s equal (Tyler 788). There also appears to be communication disintegration between Daisy and Cal. For instance, Daisy does not oppose any idea put forth by Cal, even though she finds some unproductive. This translates to their failure in effectively guiding Donny towards achieving better grades and improving his attitude. This implies that, it is extremely crucial for children to have authoritative guardians, to not only enable them to make responsible choices, but also correct them when necessary (Collins 225-232). It is also imperative to note that, the mode of communication chosen by adult is highly crucial. A parent or guardian is supposed to be firm in whatever he or she says, but at the same time put into consideration the fact that adolescents are very sensitive and anything said to them has a very big impact either raising or lowering their self esteem (Kerr and Stattin 366-374). All in all, teenagers’ discipline is subject to the right mode of communication, but in Donny’s case neither Daisy, nor Cal, provided the best advice for him before he sunk into the ruin that is “Teenage Wasteland”. Parent’s insight, into their children’s relationships with other age mates or peers, plays an imperative role in determining whether these relations promote positive or negative behaviour (Kerr and Stattin 375-380). If the parents accept the relationship, it means that it most likely has a positive influence over their children. In Donny’s case, the people he associated with always made him get into trouble at school (Tyler 792). At one time he had been caught smoking in the furnace room. He also helped his friend Sonny Barnett to break into a freshman's locker, and they were also caught off the school compound, smelling of alcohol. This shows that, the relationships Donny had, did not affect him positively but rather affected his morals in a negative manner. The sad thing is that, Daisy did not take any action to prevent Donny from relating with bad mannered children, like a responsible parent should. In summation, it is imperative for parents to establish guidelines that will lead to attainment of success in a child’s life, thus avoiding such a devastating conclusion like that witnessed in “Teenage Wasteland”. It is also important for the parents to portray confidence when addressing their children. This depicts a high level of authority, ensuring that the children will be able to follow instructions provided without questioning their parents’ credibility. It is also crucial to have knowledge about teenagers and how to deal with their issues. This will lead to better communication between parents and their children, eventually contributing to a positive outcome in their present lives, as well as, in their future. Work Cited Tyler, Anne. Teenage Wasteland.Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing.Eds. Kiszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. 7th ed. Boston: Wadsworth. 2011. 785-792. Fletcher, Anne, Steinberg, Laurence and Williams-Wheeler, Meeshay. Parental Influences on Adolescent Problem Behavior: Revisiting Stattin and Kerr. 75.1(2004): 769-781. Collins, Andrew et al. Contemporary research on parenting: The case for nature and nurture. American Psychologist, 55(2000): 218 – 232. Kerr, Margaret, and Stattin, Hakan. What parents know, how they know it, and several forms of adolescent adjustment: Further support for a reinterpretation of monitoring. Developmental Psychology, 36(2000): 366 – 380. Stattin, Hakan and Kerr, Margaret. Parental monitoring: A reinterpretation. Child Development, 714(2000): 1072 – 1085. Read More