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Lindsey Wind
Mrs. Cramer
Comp Pd. 4
7 Dec. 2018
Children are the Future; Parents are the Present
The debate of whether parents or teachers should teach children behavior has been a topic

of discussion for quite some time. As time goes on and the children grow, would you want

irresponsible and immature people running our country? Parents should be held responsible for

ensuring the behavior presented by their children is proper. Behavior in children is what shapes

our future and choices made. Youth grow and as they become older, they are the ones who make

the important decisions. While children experience different environments with different

guardians, most of the time the kids are with their parents in their homes. Therefore, parents must

be held responsible for their children’s proper behavior because they are with children most of the

time, and the behavior reflects on the parents’ reputation.

First, parents and guardians should be the people responsible for teaching children

appropriate behavior. Parents are the ones who have brought the children into the world. Since

the kids are the adults’ responsibility, they should be enforcing proper behavior and teaching

lessons starting at a young age and throughout the children’s lives. Juveniles are almost

exclusively with their parents throughout the first years of their lives. Within this time, children

begin to learn and understand the difference of right and wrong behavior (Joyce). Since the

parents had been with the kids since a small age, behavior should be enforced the whole time.

Youth who are not old enough to go to school do not even get a chance to learn the correct

behavior from teachers yet, so it should be parents’ responsibility to teach their children. When

the parents have the children, they are putting themselves in a situation to grow a life and be
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responsible for that life for at least eighteen years. Overall, if the parents are creating the

responsibility of having a child, they must take into consideration the importance of raising the

child. Parents have a great amount of responsibility when having a child.

Next, when children are born, they represent the parents. As children mature, they start

to get more involved in social groups. Kids begin to grow and want to do sports and other

activities. When children go out in public, they get to represent themselves and show people how

they behave. Parents, typically, do not sit at the practices to observe, this means the children are

using the behavior taught and applying it to the real world. If the children do not behave

appropriately, it reflects on the parents and how they had raised the child. As kids grow older

they begin to take on responsibility. Eventually, children have reputations for themselves.

Children should not be acting greatly obnoxious.1 If the behaviors they present are not correct,

they may blame their parents for not teaching them properly (Hill). Another example is when

kids begin to grow up and become adults; in small towns, people know each other. If a child was

to grow up and make bad decisions and that leads to the child being arrested or dealing with the

police, the child will be associated with the guardian. As a child gets to make their own

decisions, as a parent, the goal the goal would be for the child to succeed. Parents typically do

not want their children to get in trouble or not meet their goals. Without the essential behavior

lessons, children won’t be able to succeed.

On the other hand, circumstances change depending on the child and their life. Although

children may all have different lives, the kids typically grow up with some sort of guardian. Only

5% of children do not have a strong home life in the USA (Doyne). Children’s home life can be

different vary depending on whether they have a proper figure. Even if the children do not have a

1Oxymoron- This oxymoron is contradicting the action of children being obnoxious. Being obnoxious is not a great
thing.
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full-time parent, they tend to learn behaviors from older people around them or their guardians.

Children’s home life is where they spend most of their time as they grow and this is where they

get their base behavior for the real world. The guardians should be making the behavior they

enforce positive so that the children react properly. When parents use negative commands, the

children either decide they do not want to do it, or, they get too scared and they will not listen. If

they do not start using positive behavior now, then it may never carry over into their lives so they

can teach it when they get older.

Yet, children may not all have the same home life, but overall, they do have a parent or

guardian to help teach behavior. Parents may be teaching children behavior, but teachers’

reputations are also on the line. While children are at school, they are around other children and

can pick up bad behaviors from the kids. Children are getting in trouble for being with the wrong

crowds.2 Teachers may be responsible for teaching children behavior, but it does not reflect on

their reputation. When a child acts out on the outside of school, people do not typically ask “Who

is their teacher?” Children do learn behavior in school, but they could learn it from other students

(Martin and Pear). The behaviors they pick up from other students could be inappropriate; then it

could be hurting the work that the parents have been doing. The parents work the first few years

of the kids’ lives on ensuring they act appropriately; for once they go to school, the behavior could

be different and it just back tracks. The behavior of children is affected greatly by parents and

teachers.

Overall, parents should be teaching the behavior because they are with the children at home

a large amount of time, and the behavior presented by the children reflects the parents’ reputation.

Parents’ lives typically revolve around their children’s for at least eighteen years. Those eighteen

2 Euphemism- This is a kinder and gentler way of explaining the type of crowd the children are in.
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years should involve the parents teaching children correct behavior. Children are going to be

representing their parents and our country at one point and without appropriate behavior, the

country may not succeed. It may seem drastic that just a child’s behavior is going to be in control

of our country, but as time goes on, they will get to take over as the people grow out of office.

Another example would be, when the children grow old enough to get out of college and have their

own families, they will also have to teach their children (Pear 22). If they do not know proper

behavior by then, then all other generations will go down-hill following. Parents’ reputations

reflect from their children and their behavior. Teachers and parents both are teaching responsibility

to children, but the parents should really be the kids who are going to be in control. Children are

going to be the new face of the world and the parents need to teach proper behavior for the children.

For our world to succeed, we need to start at teaching the children at a young age how to properly

behave and be responsible. Not only will the children be taking political roles, but other jobs such

as nurses, teachers, and many more important roles.

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Works Cited

Doyne, Shannon. “How, and by Whom, Should Children Be Taught Appropriate Behavior.

The New York Times 15 Oct. 2012.

Joyce L. Epstein "Teachers' Reported Practices of Parent Involvement: Problems and

Possibilities," The Elementary School Journal 83, no. 2 (Nov., 1982): 103-113.

Martin, G., Pear, J. (2014). Behavior Modification. New York: Psychology Press.

“Parents Need to Take Responsibility For Their Children's Behavior.” Excite Education,

Walker, Hill, et al. “Good Behavior Needs to Be Taught.” American Federation of

Teachers, 3 Nov. 2014.