Kids & Vandalism

[NDNQt]

Does anyone else work where you have to deal with vandalism?

Kids hit 4 of our parks/schools this weekend. At one place they took bolt cutters and cut the fence apart. Then put up boards so they could skateboard. Hello...where were the parents when their kids were gone that long?

At another site not only did they spray paint the restrooms but they spread sh*t over the whole restroom.

I know I was raised in a different day and age (I'm 38) but I would never even think of vandalizing anything!

[between2worlds]

Yeah... it goes with living in a big Metro area.

The solution to it is the same one that worked on us little heathens when I was a kid - you grab holt of the dear cherubs, frog march them to their parents and gleefully offer to stuff them back where they came from. And yup - I chased two kids from the new neighbors down in my chair and did just that for throwing rocks at the side of my house and cracking a window. Never did get the parents to replace the window but the kids give "that crazy guy's house" a wide berth now.

See - besides "what are these li'l monsters thinking" and "where the *bleep* are the parents" there is also "where are all of the other community adults?"

Maybe lawsuits will deter someone from confronting the darlins directly - but why didn't anyone call the cops (especially the dismantling of the fence incident)?

[NorthofAda]

Does anyone else work where you have to deal with vandalism?

Kids hit 4 of our parks/schools this weekend. At one place they took bolt cutters and cut the fence apart. Then put up boards so they could skateboard. Hello...where were the parents when their kids were gone that long?

At another site not only did they spray paint the restrooms but they spread sh*t over the whole restroom.

I know I was raised in a different day and age (I'm 38) but I would never even think of vandalizing anything!

We live in a not-so-large suburb (50,000+ pop.) and somebody vandalized the playground at our daughters' school 2 summers ago. They used lighters to melt holes in the plastic slides and defecated and urinated on the steps and slides. It was really disgusting.

It IS a different day and age these days. When I was a kid we didn't have to have lockdown drills to practice what to do if an armed intruder entered the school. We didn't have kids making up "hit lists" of students and teachers that they wanted to murder. We didn't have teenagers going to into malls with guns and randomly shooting innocent shoppers. It seems like each current event on the news is just more outrageous than the previous. What's next? Weapons of mass destruction hidden in high school lockers? OUCH!

[between2worlds]

We live in a not-so-large suburb (50,000+ pop.) and somebody vandalized the playground at our daughters' school 2 summers ago. They used lighters to melt holes in the plastic slides and defecated and urinated on the steps and slides. It was really disgusting.

It IS a different day and age these days. When I was a kid we didn't have to have lockdown drills to practice what to do if an armed intruder entered the school. We didn't have kids making up "hit lists" of students and teachers that they wanted to murder. We didn't have teenagers going to into malls with guns and randomly shooting innocent shoppers. It seems like each current event on the news is just more outrageous than the previous. What's next? Weapons of mass destruction hidden in high school lockers? OUCH!

*smiles* Nope we didn't have lock down drills - we had atomic bomb drills. It puts a whole different perspective on things when what you're worried about is having the whole world blown apart - just and unjust alike it was imminent that everyone was probably going to die.

I'm probably a bit older than you, but I can remember a bully or two (classmate or teacher - a bully is a bully) I wouldn't have minded shoving feet first into a garbage disposal. The difference (might be) - I KNEW if I did something like that, no matter what the authorities might do about it - what my FATHER would do to me would be way worse.

For some quantity of kids - time outs don't work and standing in the corner doesn't work and getting grounded doesn't work. Now my Dad never beat me (like with a baseball bat or his fists) but he did use a belt and, trust me, I did deserve it too. Beyond that Dad had a way of making you think that maybe, just maybe, the next time he might lose ALL restraint. Fear of bodily harm worked real well for a smart aleck kid like me.

I know NOW my Dad was only using what worked to keep me in line. I also know NOW that he wouldn't have "messed me up". But the deterrent of thinking about what could possibly happen enforced some thinking about "what will be the repercussions of doing this" on my part. If I wouldn't do it where Dad could see then I probably shouldn't do it.

Children under the age of 21 do not have an adult brain. According to studies the ability to fully reason about the consequences of their actions is still in it's formation period - and thus is somewhat impaired. It is my opinion that everyone (adults, parents, educators, law enforcement) has a part in seeing that this reasoning develops in a way that best suits society's interests.

Children with access to firearms is a good case in point for community involvement. I cannot see someone of my parent's generation allowing a child to play with a gun or have access to a gun. I cannot see an adult selling a child a gun. I knew how to USE a gun from a young age. Where I lived it was a tool - like a fishing pool or a hoe. It was how you got food. And I didn't get to use a gun UNLESS I was going to get food. I couldn't just "grab Gramp's gun and go out for a bit".

From where I sit - it looks like everyone's problem and also that a bit like we can all be part of the solution. A parent can't be everywhere. I got told on a lot by the other adults in the community - usually with me stood there, having been caught in the act and taken by that adult to my parent(s) for correction. (now if the parent does nothing that's a whole 'nother thing) The eyes and ears of my parents were EVERYWHERE. And so, until I learned to reason better - my escapades (of which there were still a few: mostly involving outhouses, cows and melons) were kept to a societially tolerable level.

[Josiah]

It starts at the neighborhood level and then community and finally citywide
I belonged to a small community and we Fathers got together and built a nice playground for the kids simple stuff but a nice place for the kids to go and get off the street.
Well one night some teenagers were bored and went over to our little park and vanadlized it.
Only they are never smart about it, someone saw them and recognized a few.
We as Fathers went to the Parent of each and every child and told the parents that we were not happy about this and what could their children do to make amends. Some were not happy about us confronting them in a public way but this exposes the situation where it belongs in the PUBLIC EYE!!!
We supervised the work and they repaired most of what could be done,
We also decided to add a half court basketball court in the area and asked the teenagers to get involved
They policed there own area and when other teenagers tried to vandalize it they got on them and stopped it before it went any further.
Make them part of the solution

Alot of times we find that they were just bored with nothing to do (we lived on an island) so of course they would do something stupid...
But each time something was vandalized we as a community would get together and find out who did it and have them repair it.
We did a lot of block parties and got the neighborhood to come out and do potlucks and meet each other.
Crime and rundown houses were the norm and after years of hard work and working together that was turned around.
Especially the drug houses we went after the neighbors, the landlords, we used vidoe tape we posted the license plates in the newspaper
All of those things helped because if you turn the public eye on those houses then the little cockroaches scurry some where else.

Vandalizing is the first signs that a community don't care and pretty soon other elements start to move into those kind of neighborhoods.
Catch it early
Otherwise
Put up with it and don't *****

[billyjoejimbob]

Parents are too busy working to take care of their kids.

Im 36 and I also would never think about destroying something that wasnt mine. I wouldnt even destroy something that was mine.

[Josiah]

Parents are too busy working to take care of their kids.

Im 36 and I also would never think about destroying something that wasnt mine. I wouldnt even destroy something that was mine.

And we wonder why they are running in the streets
The thing is both my Parents worked growing up
And in our neighborhood we still could not get away with nothing because the neighbors would beat you
I not saying in this day and age you can do that
But
It goes back to the same thing
THE Whole Community needs to get involved
And being too busy is no excuse
I work 10 hours a day with the commute and work
and work some of my weekends

I am too busy
That is a cop out
buh

[Nezbah]

Parents are too busy working to take care of their kids.

Im 36 and I also would never think about destroying something that wasnt mine. I wouldnt even destroy something that was mine.

Hey....... I am a full time working mom and I have taught my son never to disrespect anything or anyone. I know many single working moms that have the same values as I do. However, this all starts at home and their upbringing. Respect and love all starts at home, most of these kids are 'acting' out against their authorities just because they 'can'. No one reports them, discipline's them, calls the police, or even really 'cares', thus they get away with it. If the kids were getting the love and attention at home they need every day, maybe it would be a different story. There are always bad seeds somewhere out there, its a matter of making the right choice. Instead of complaining about it, do something about it, call the police, report to their parents, at least you did something and showed you cared. That's my .05 cents worth of sharing........LOL.

[Josiah]

Hey....... I am a full time working mom and I have taught my son never to disrespect anything or anyone. I know many single working moms that have the same values as I do. However, this all starts at home and their upbringing. Respect and love all starts at home, most of these kids are 'acting' out against their authorities just because they 'can'. No one reports them, discipline's them, calls the police, or even really 'cares', thus they get away with it. If the kids were getting the love and attention at home they need every day, maybe it would be a different story. There are always bad seeds somewhere out there, its a matter of making the right choice. Instead of complaining about it, do something about it, call the police, report to their parents, at least you did something and showed you cared. That's my .05 cents worth of sharing........LOL.

Here Here
Claps Hands

[trob226]

B2W and Josiah - you make a lot of sense. One of the other factors, though, is alcohol - kids can get hold of it way too easy, and brains that weren't adult to begin with really get messed up on the liquor. I don't know how they do it - never could get away with it when I was a kid (back in the "duck and cover" days, B2W).

[between2worlds]

trob - I managed to do it (it being obtain alcohol) and other substances too. Kids have been doing that (pushing the bounds of what they can get away with) for forever.

And yeah, I did some messed up things while I was loaded. Nothing violent but there were a few pranks that kinda got outta hand. I got caught nearly every time. It took a while for me and my friend AL to part ways, but that finally happened too.

Now, if I hadn't had adults in my life (parents and family as well as neighbors), I might not have ever figured out what a bad combination ole AL and I made. Once I got out on my own though - a combination of "geez I've been here (in this trouble as a kid) before" and finally embarassing myself in a spectacular way had a lasting effect on the road I was thinking of taking.

Children do socially unacceptable stuff, adults keep turning children back 'round the right way, children grow out of it into adults who have the next passle o' youngins that will do socially unacceptable stuff.

Hopefully with each round, the adults will realize it's their turn to BE the adults and the cycle can continue.

[Dweick]

I gotts go on the side it starts at home too

I raised three at home on the streets of detroit by myself,
they have seen it all .working multiple jobs to make ends meet too

but one thing they all remember from me is a quote that my son chuckles at nowdays

" if you go out and do somthing so outragiously stupid and the cops show up, and they stick a camera in my face asking me what went wrong with my child"
" Dont expect me to be that parent on the news saying I dont know what happened to them he/ she was always such a good child."
and don't expect me to fetch you in the middle of the night to bail you out of jail either. cause mama don't have bail money.

I was lucky in so many ways I never had my kids come home with the cops or ever have to deal with them in jail.

in General kids know what they can and can not get away with they know exactly what thier parents will tolerate.
Teaching kids to respect other people, and property is not taught as it was in our childhood days and sadly many out there do not care about community like back then either.

Has anyone seen that one comercial where one person watches an act of kindness to a stranger and then they do it and then the next person.
I LOVE That commercial it says so much in just the activity of what is being done.

Here is an example : Silly but somthing to think about.
How many times have you taken a shopping cart back into the store or place it in the corral and somone with you says why are you doing that they pay people to do that job.
or when you are in a restaurant and you clean up your table or floor because your kid made a mess and the same speech
why ware you dong that they pay people to clean that. UGH makes my blood boil everytime I hear that from someone

[Singing Eagle]

Yeah it starts at home - I agree that our kids need to understand right and wrong - and they need to receive approapriate punishment for willfull destruction of property.

I think the youth laws suck - kids are getting away with everything! I'm not saying toss em in the slammer - just make darn sure they don't break the law again!

AND MAYBE THEY"LL FINALLY LEAVE MY TRUCK ALONE!

[anishinabealltheway]

It's so hard to catch the culprits in this sort of thing and even if they do get caught they just get a slap on the wrist.

I was taught respect when I was a kid it's just too bad that all kids weren't taught that way.

[Wakalapi]

Where were the parents? Well since this is today, dad's in jail for beating mom and mom's too high to give a damn.

What's wrong with today's kids? Brainwashed. They are only standing up for their absolute "right to freedom of self-expression", which is apparently too sacred even to infringe with laws prohibiting harm to persons and property. I hear kids are even allowed to cuss out their teachers now, and if anything is done the morally depraved and genetically worthless (lawyers) come out of the woodwork to beat their frail little chests for them.


The gang member punks need to be rounded up and dumped from a barge at sea. Drug dealers need to have air injected directly into their hearts. Taggers need to have their cans of Krylon emptied directly into their forced-open eyes. Men who impregnate women and then abandon their responsibilities to their children need to be "fixed" using a lit magnesium road flare. All of these so-called "people" fit into a convenient class whose lifeless hanging effigies should line every Main Street until this nation gets cleaned up.

Sorry if I'm being too wishy-washy on this one.