Arresting Juvenile Delinquency

The idea of arresting juvenile delinquency may be both vague and misleading. Of course, in American society, certain laws and rules, depending on which state you're in, tell us what can happen to a juvenile delinquent when caught by law enforcers. While some may see that as a solution to curbing juvenile delinquency, the real solution lies in preventing it in the first place. Arresting juvenile delinquency therefore, does not just mean catching delinquents, but preventing them from becoming so.

Some may believe that juvenile delinquents come from dysfunctional families. This may not always be the case. Even in less contentious families, or families that are psychologically well adjusted, there may be members who may become juvenile delinquents. This is because the family is not the only environment of the youth today. Outside of the family, they have their peers and the media.

Some teens may be pushed to adopt deviant behavior because of their desire to be accepted by their peers. Often, teens do not learn to drink, smoke, take drugs or vandalize all by themselves. They may have picked these up from their friends who may aggressively push them to follow suit or who may just simply provide the wrong sets of behavior for your child to follow. Realizing that your teen may be negatively influenced by peers, socially isolating your child is hardly the answer and may allow matters to even worsen.

But even if you do manage to isolate your kid from his/ her peers, there is still that element of media influence. Media of course does not just mean television. Media is encompassing and it is everywhere and because it is everywhere, you cannot prevent your teen from being bombarded by media images and messages.

If the presence of peers and media cannot be prevented, what can parents do? Preventing juvenile delinquency at the home level is not as simple as talking to your son and daughter after catching him/ her performing deviant acts. Chances are, your child may be too far gone and too distant from you to care about your concerns, the feelings of others or even his/ her own welfare. The only way therefore, to make sure that whatever you say matters to your teen is to ensure that you try your very best to parent your child before he/ she even enters puberty.

As early as the toddler stage, encourage a warm, accepting and loving relationship with your child. The objective is to form a close relationship with your child so that he/ she can understand better your means in securing his/ her welfare. While growing up, take pains to explain the concept of wrong and right and have an in depth talk with your kid when he/ she does something wrong. Be firm too in regulating the use of the internet and the television. Although this may be an unpopular move for your child, make him/ her understand why you have to determine what should be watched or surfed. When your child is a little older, he/ she may be allowed a wider selection of shows or sites to choose from, but take the time to explain programs or web sites to your kid.

Of course, everything is easier said than done, but parenting was never an easy job.