Essay: Parents are responsible for the behaviour of the children

Hi, guys!

I am a non-native English speaker and would very appreciate any feedback about my essay. Thank you for reading!

Parents are responsible for the behaviour of the children.

The question of the responsibility of parents for the behaviour of the children is a controversial one. On one hand, parents are legally and morally obliged to raise their children (at least in modern societies) and instil in them some fundamental notions about life and morality in general, such as conceptions of kindness, generosity and tolerance. If a child breaches a law or a moral bound it could signify that the duty of the parents mentioned above was not fulfilled properly and it is the fault of the parents, and therefore they are responsible. On the other hand, it is difficult to set some reasonable limits of such responsibility.

For example, let's examine the degree of parents' responsibility for a child younger than 10 years old. A child in such age do not fully recognise the consequences of their actions, and therefore their parents are responsible for the kid. That claim sounds reasonable, as multiple psychological experiments have revealed that children in such young age do not fully grasp the concept of the future and therefore could not thoroughly anticipate consequences of their deeds. Moreover, they also do not totally understand moral obligations and conventions adopted in the society, therefore some legal schools claim that all responsibility (including criminal liability) lies fully with the parents.

Now let's consider whether parents share responsibility for their children in age of 30. Clearly, by that age children remain children only in the eyes of their parents and for the rest of the society are independent adults who fully and solely responsible for their actions. However, even in that case, one can argue that basis for the misdeeds of the child was founded years ago in her childhood. According, to this view all people born as virtuous and honest persons and only some external pressure (especially at the young age when people are vulnerable to immoral influence) and miseducation can force a person to breach moral vows. Who else if not the parents are responsible for education and defending their children from unhealthy impact?

From my point of view, this question does not accept a general answer, and the degree (or sometimes even presence) of parents responsibility for the behaviour of the children should me be determined and measured on the individual basis.