Increasing Bad Behaviour by Children Expected
Increasing Bad Behaviour by Children Expected
MEDIA RELEASE
22 August 2011
Increasing Bad Behaviour
by Children Expected
table
behaviour by children, and as parental authority is
undermined by politicians. "We have tried to bury
our heads in the sand on this growing problem - but the
problem hasn't gone away and is only worsening. And it will
get worse as parents feel disempowered by anti-smacking
laws, the underlying message of children's rights over
parental responsibility, and discipline being deemed a dirty
word," says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First
NZ.
"In 2008, Family First caught out "And it's not just in
schools. Ministry of Justice statistics released last year
showed that from 1998-2008, the number of police
apprehensions for grievous/serious assaults by 10-13 year
olds increased by more than 70%. For each of the most recent
two years, there had been almost 1,000 apprehensions for
10-13 year olds for all violent offences, which include
aggravated robbery, sexual violation, indecent assault, and
serious assaults - an increase of a third since 1998," says
Mr McCoskrie. "Alarm bells should be ringing when
there has been a 70% increase in the number of young
children committing a serious enough act of violence to
warrant police involvement, and almost 1000 children are
being chucked out of primary schools for behaviour that is
just so bad that schools have got to the point where they
can't even work with it - even when the Ministry of
Education is pressuring schools not to suspend or expel
students." "There are many factors that may be
contributing to these statistics including the levels of
violence in the media and games, the undermining of parental
and school authority, the 'rights' culture being fed to
young people, and family breakdown and fatherlessness," says
Mr McCoskrie. "But one thing is clear - the
situation will only get worse unless we return authority and
responsibility to parents and
teachers." ENDS
Family First NZ says that reports
of knife attacks in primary schools