if your child steal, you as a parent will be booked?

it seems that the police is contemplating to introduce a new law that will hold parents and traders responsible for the crimes committed by juveniles. you know, crimes like

vandalism, gambling, smoking, improper public conduct, truancy, an age limit for entry into entertainment outlets, and abuse of online and wireless applications.

the last one there is particularly interesting. ‘abuse of online and wireless applications’? you mean like blogs?

the police said that by introducing this law, they coucd book entertainment outlet operators if underaged patrons were found in their premises or arrest traders who sold cigarettes to underage children.

are you for or against the law? there would be a difference of opinion between those who are parents and those who are not parents. as for me being a non parent, my personal view is… i’m not so sure! i half support the law. on one hand, parents should be responsible for thier children’s conduct but on the other hand, it wouldn’t be fair to the parents that each time their kids get into trouble, they will have to be accountable. this is something debatable but since i’m not a parent, i wouldn’t want to elaborate.

allow me to talk instead on booking entertainment outlets owners and traders. for the latter, if say a trader selling cigarette to an underage kid, i fully agree that the trader should be booked since the trader should know that it is illegal and yet for business (money) they defy the law and sold the cigarettes. kind of same thing for entertainment outlet owners. if there is a law to say underage patrons are not allowed in, then they should follow the law and not let them in. they shouldn’t give excuse such as “i’m not responsible for them (the underaged patrons). if they want to come in and that earn money for me, all the better.”

ahh. the key word there is “not responsible”. well since those underaged patrons are not the children of the owner, he can claim “i’m not responsible”… so does this means that parents should be responsible? and does this means that it comes back to the fact that this new going-to-be-introduced law should be supported after all?