Thread: Parents pressuring Teens

I recently read an article about a father pressuring his son to rob a small store. The father said the family needed money and felt his teenage son would get in less trouble. Don't teens get enough pressure from their peers, let alone bad parents?

I've heard similar things happening all over the world. It's a shame that parents pressure their teens to steal, murder, etc. for them. It's ridiculous. And I find that in many cases, the parents get in less trouble than the children, who are just following their parent's orders.

I think this happens more than we might think. I personally know a woman who used to have her small children shoplift for her. In her case she was not even impoverished, she just wanted the things.

Children often look up so much to their parents and their parents can become their entire world. Many of these children that steal have also been suffering from parental abuse. We see it in the schools. The kids misbehave and the parents beat the kids. The next day the kids come in with bruises and cuts and they try to make us believe they just fell down. It is so sad, and I know that these kids will be scared mentally for life because of it.

That sounds so awful! I know I shouldn't be surprised about how bad some parents could be, but every single time I hear a story about parents abusing their kids, I never fail to feel so bad for the kids who have to live under those conditions. Really though, if we're talking about all types of pressure, what about the typical dad who wants his son to be macho? Who wants his son to confront obstacles aggressively? Sure, it's not a bad thing to teach your kid to be tough, but there's a thin line that a kid can cross if they get too much reinforcement to use force.

Somehow it doesn't surprise me. The father probably figuresd that the son wouldn't get in as much trouble as he would. But he probably felt he was in a desperate situation.

This man doesn't even deserve to be called a "parent!" Probably his own parents didn't teach him that it is wrong to steal or he wouldn't be pressuring his own kid to do it. Not having enough money is never a reason to do something that is wrong. There is ALWAYS another way. This father just wanted the "easy" way out.