A young mother took her teething and irritable baby to the corner of her street to look at the traffic, hoping that the sight and sounds of the traffic flow would distract him from his misery and lull him into a peaceful sleep.

Instead, she was distracted by and had to flee from some teenagers whose language and behaviour were of the ‘gutter’ variety, with every intimate part of the human anatomy and their various functions (and subversions of those functions) were described in the most graphic descriptive phraseology in extremely lurid language, which, in the society of yesteryear would have earned their mouths a washing with carbolic soap by any elder within hearing, as well as a whipping from parents/guardians if they only dared to complain.

What was shocking to the well-brought-up young woman was the fact that a couple of adults were also engaged with the young people in that ‘conversation’.

Parents fight in the presence of their children, consume alcohol and engage in lewd, licentious behaviour in the presence of their children, commit dishonest and even criminal acts in the presence of their children, and they still expect that their children would automatically be inculcated with decent behaviourial patterns – a case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’.

They do this without considering that the characters of children are formulated during their early years, and emulating the behaviour and speech of the adults is what moulds their mental growth and moral character.

Many parents encourage their children to secretively appropriate the belongings of others, and collect the proceeds of crime sprees when the child subsequently devolve into hardcore criminality; yet they wail about police brutality and proclaim the innocence of their child, even if they are caught red-handed committing crimes of a very serious nature, such as armed robbery; and especially when they turn their weapons on police ranks who seek to accost them and get injured or killed in the process.

There is truism in the adage that it takes a community to raise a child; but that was a reality of yesteryear. Today no-one seems to care because the modern generation of children are often surly and disrespectful, unheeding of mannerly conduct and moral rectitude; so those whom may make a difference in an aberrant, abhorrent person shy away from the attitudinal responses that engender disgust and fear, instead of caring and support.
There is a tattoo artist in the City Mall who tattoos weird images in the skins of schoolchildren without the presence or approval of a parent. This is an unlawful act that contributes to the delinquency of minors; but he continues because no parent has ever chastised him in any way at any time. The mere fact that he loves money so much that he would leave indelible marks on the skin of the children of unsuspecting parents, sometimes in places where the tattoo is not easily visible, is an indication that he has no qualms in the way he earns his money and would even risk their lives by re-using needles, with all the inherent dangers to their lives by way of transmission of killer diseases that have no cure.
Even in schools, aberrant behaviour is tolerated and justified, making the perpetrator feel empowered to continue with various forms of anti-social behaviour.
Government has instituted many mechanisms for the education and development of young people; but if their moral fabric is not nurtured in tandem with their other growth poles, then every effort would be at best a compromise.