Should Parents be Financially Responsible for Damage Caused by Their Children?

We have no lods as yet But I would agree once they reach a certain age, they should be responsible for their actions. Whenever I got into trouble I was always accountable. I do not think any parent can control a child's behavior totally.

This is interesting me. I didn't know that you weren't already financially responsible for your child. I am not sure I would even ever question this. You and soley you are resposible for raising your children. You instil the values and beliefs into your children. The government can only do so much (I would also like examples of this). How you raise them is up to you. If you think your child is going to do something that is wrong, and that may incure charges for damage, then you obviously didn't raise your children to respect you or other people. I child the chooses to be disruptive is disruptive because you allow them to be. Not because the government allowed them to be. I find it odd you say a child of 13 can make the choice of staying out. I would like to know who your parents were and where you live. The child chooses to stay out, becuase you DON'T force him to come home, not because you can't but because you DON'T. Its a sad sight really, the government has tried to offer so much help, that parents have decided they no longer need to be parents, and they can blame the government for everything. My mother was a single parent, she had me when she was 15, and my sister when she was 20. My mother at the young age of 15 started raising us right. We respect her, and listen to her. Of coarse we have done bad things, but she took the needs neccessary to make sure we understood never to do it again. To this day, respect and listen to my mother. A child that respects you in the first place, wouldn't not listen to you,for those laws to matter. You are the parent, your parenting starts when you get pregnant, and the end result shows you if you were a good parent or not. If choose to let your children get away with everything when they are younger, you can expect that he will stay out until he wants to come home. If you make your children respect and listen to you when they are younger, they will know no different when they are older. Do you spank your child? Do you use time out? Do you ground your child and stick to it? You as a parent let your children be the kind of person who would cause damage, therefore yes you should be responsible. What you do to your child to make him pay back that debt to you, is up to you. But why should the person who had their stuff damaged suffer, because you can't control your child? You can send any children you like here where I live and I promise you won'thave any other problems.

I agree with your points. We have a lot of problems with youth in our community and I don't even know what the right thing to do about it would be anymore. I would like to say that, yes, parents absolutely should have to pay for the damage. But the reality is that many parents simply don't have the money and/or simply wouldn't pay it. Plus we have a lot of situations where the type of kids who do this sort of damage don't have parents who care about them let alone the community which is really sad. Then it's just a lose lose situation; no one learns a lesson and nothing gets paid for. I think that the kids should have to work it off and it should be things like picking garbage and other highly unpleasant - but necessary - tasks. They need to be made aware that there are consequences for their actions but for the most part there isn't any. They pretty much know that they're untouchable and I think that needs to change. One suggestion would be to link their youth 'record' to their driver's license so they aren't able to get it if they haven't worked off any debts owing for damage they caused. That probably wouldn't work but I think it's along the right line. I think that there needs to be real consequences and they should stand to lose more tangible things.

I can understand from both perspectives. I totally agree - some kids will NOT listen, no matter what! I feel like that some parents would get really screwed over from this law. But at the same time, if your kid broke someones window, who SHOULD pay for it? I think that maybe there should be an option. Like, if you're sick of paying for you kid when he vandalizes something, maybe you kid should spend some time in juvy? Or doing community service. If you are saying you can't keep paying for your kids mistakes, then he needs to be diciplined by someone else. If you can punish your own child, and trust that it works, then you end up paying.

If by the ago of 13 your child has not learned the importance of obaying their parents and caring for personal and private property then yes the parents should be held responsible for the things they do. It is one of the things that parents are responsible for. In Texas parents have had the responsibility for many years. But now if you have a problem child it is easier to have them taken out of the situation as a parent. If you cannot control you children someone has to. Otherwise how do we have responsible adults in the future. One of the most importants jobs adults have is teaching children how to become the best adults that they can be. That involes actually parenting, it is not the teachers job once they start school, as with charity it begins at home, and at the youngest ages. It is a shome that parents do not raise children right these days. No I did not spank my children often, there are punishments that they liked even less. Have you ever had to pin down grass runners in the yard with hair pins. It makes your fingers and thumbs sore in about 15 minutes. Plus it help the grass to spread and root if it is pined at the joints. Pulling weeds also works. I do believe if you spare the rod you spoil the child and therefore the adult will not be a productive citizen. But the rod does not have to be a rod per-say.

Yes they should be and I for one would pay for damage that any of my children did and then they would pay me back, they would get a job and work to make sure they paid me every penny. Even with the new laws we can still control our children and parents are responsible for the actions of their children. If you raise your children right and teach them the fear of YOU then they will behave as they should. I know that this does not work in every case and you have a few that will still rebel and do things they should not do, but as a parent you are still responsible for their actions and if they are old enough to pay for the damages themselves by getting a job then they need to do that.

I agree with the law. I see to many irresponsible parents. Lack of parents responsibility is leading a lot of kids to crime. I agree these kids knows the law, but parents need to have control. My oldest daughter with an exfriend tried pulling that I am abuse crap because she did not want to do what I told her. I took her right down to the child welfare office, and I told them folks keep her. You bet she never gave me that crap again. I am the mother, and plain and simple what I say goes. I don't know of any law where a 13 year old can stay out late, but I guess every place is different. Bottom line some parents needs this law to do the right thing.

I can kind of see two sides here. If a 14 year old kid (we'll call him Bobby), if Bobby goes out and smashes in someones car window...why should the car owner have to pay for it b/c Bobby's parents aren't bothering to watch little Bobby? Sure, the owner might have insurance but if not, then the owner is stuck with it b/c Bobby's parents don't have to pay it and of course Bobby is too young to pay for it. At the same time, it sends Bobby a bad message if parents are made to pay for his actions. It tells little Bobby that "Nothing is his fault". He doesn't learn responsibility for his actions. Then by the time he's 18 or 19 he's gotten that "Not my fault" mentality going on. Also like you said, how do you make kids do what they are told. When I was growing up spankings and woodsheds were still in use, these days those things have been outlawed. Kids can accuse their parents of anything and the courts believe it as if it were gospel. [b]~~AT PEACE WITHIN~~ **STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS**[/b]

I'm dismayed and flabbergasted by these responses! I wanted to respond to each one, just to be sure mylot would send them a notice saying someone replied so they would be sure to see it. But I'm worried if I write basically the same thing to almost every responder, then it would get flagged and delete your discussion. So, hopefully some of you who so clearly did not read her entire post will read this. How can you answer and some of you several times, when you obviously did not pay attention to what she said?? This discussion is not about whether parents should be responsible for their children. It is about whether the government should be allowed to take parental rights from parents, and if they do, why then should the parents be responsible. Are you paying attention? I don't mean to be rude, and I'm not trying to be, but she has plainly said more than once that the government in her part of Canada has already made it illegal for parents to ground their kids -- she did NOT give a lower age limit -- illegal for them to send them to their room and enforce it, illegal for them to even force a 13 yr old to just COME HOME!!! These parents where she lives clearly do NOT have enough parental control to enforce any rules with their children and no way to be responsible for their child's behavior! Sandymay & CJScott, I would really appreciate it if you would post on the politics boards about this, in detail, because there are lots of US citizens there who need to see what the outcome of our current laws will be. This is exactly where we are headed. Canada also has some extreme laws regarding hate speech, don't they? We in the US really need to take close notice of what is happening in Canada, because it all started from the same kind of laws and campaigns that we are now seeing here, and have been seeing here for the last 20 years. It's coming to a US city near you -- soon. It is laughable that most of you who disagreed with Sandymay were detailing how you would discipline your kids, [b]and yet, everything you suggested she has already stated is ILLEGAL there!!! [/b] Sandymay, to answer your question, these laws alone would be reason, in my opinion, to move to another country. Really. Your child is worth it. Move back when the children are adults if you miss it, but I would do everything in my power to scrimp and save and move to somewhere that the laws have not yet gotten so out of control. I mean that with all my heart. In fact, for some similar reasons I moved from the NE United States to the Southeast, where parents are still allowed to legally be parents, somewhat. Yeah, when I was a kid, 40+ years ago, I had a healthy fear of my parents, as all of you are suggesting kids should have. It didn't stop me from ever misbehaving, but believe me when an activity presented itself, there was no way my mind would not be immediately weighing the "fun" of the activity against the wrath of my parents. I was never abused. My parents were free to set limits on me as a young child on up thru my teens. To this day, as a 52 yr old mother myself, I care deeply what my own mother thinks of me -- to the point it still influences my own life decisions. That doesn't mean I am or was perfectly well behaved and never make mistakes or got out of line -- I certainly did. But I could never stray too far, and when I did stray some -- the testing most all teens or young adults do -- I always returned to my parents' values. This was the result of a selfless and unconditional love my parents gave us -- a love that was strong enough to tell us No, stand by that No, and to punish us as well as discipline us. But my parents were unfettered by an over reaching government. Parents today find it harder and harder to provide that love and discipline, because of government interference. It's not like that nowadays, and especially in a place such as Sandymay is describing. When the government repeatedly ties the parents' hands, and restricts every option, it sends a message loud and clear to the children that parents are just idiots who have no reason or right to interfere in their "fun". How can such a parent ever hope to gain this child's respect?

Parents should absolutely be responsible for the damages their children cause to people's property. In my area, even though it is a nice area, there are still plenty of parents who allow their children to act atrociously, vandalising and maliciously damaging other people's property with no consequence from the parents. In fact I know of people whose children have caused such damage and the parents actually think it is funny. I would love to see parents being forced to pay for the damages their children cause, and then hopefully we may see parents actually starting to do something about the disgraceful and unruly behaviour that children these days get away with. If I had tried half the things some kids do these days when I was a child, I'd have received such a slap, grounding, or confiscation of my personal posessions to show me what it's like for someone to do that to me. Needless to say, I never once ever vandalised anyone's property, and if I'd have accdentally damaged someone's property, for example a ball through a window, I would have gone to that person and apologised and asked them what I could do, usually before even telling my parents. Good on whichever candidate wants to do this! He'd have my vote!

Everyone has their own idea of it ,but I agree with your point of view.