Should Parents Be Held Responsible?

Your kid is bullying someone. Should you be held responsible for that behavior if he or she is under 18 years old? Yes, according to the Wisconsin Rapids’ Legislative Committee. The legislative body recently voted unanimously supporting an ordinance that would fine parents if their children bully others.

The draft was proposed by the Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools Superintendent after he viewed a viral video showing handwritten notes a local middle school girl had received from peers urging her to kill herself.

Penalties for a first offense would be $50, with additional costs bringing the total to $313. “Preventing bullying needs to be a partnership between the schools and parents and the police department,” Wisconsin Rapids Police Chief Ermin Blevins said. “If we don’t work together, we won’t be able to solve bullying.”

A nearby police department reported that it has never fined a parent in the four years the ordinance has been in effect there and has issued fewer than a dozen written warnings.

Several parents maintain that a fine should never be assessed the first time the police bring the matter to their attention. How are they to know that their child is actively bullying another unless they have been notified and given a warning they ask. Other parents maintain that their children would “never engage in such action given the morals, traditions and values they inculcated in their children when they were young.

Nearby Plover Police Chief Dan Ault says “This isn’t government telling you how to raise your children. It’s government begging you to raise your children.”

Our Note: Associated Billing Center, LLC is very interested in your feedback on this story. Should parents be fined? Would most parents know instinctively whether their child was engaged in such activity? Is the First Lady’s anti-bullying campaign resulting in measurable positive results?

Source: Gary R’nel

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