When it comes to parenthood and their responsibilities towards their children, I would always come from the perspective of being a child since I'm yet to be a parent. From my experience as a child to my parents and watching parents play their roles on their children on many occasions, I've learnt just enough to share my thought regarding this prompt.
Parenthood comes with a lot of responsibilities and that includes how a child would turn out when he or she grows up. There is no lie when the Bible and wise words said "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will never depart from it".
There is no lie there but whose fault will it be if a child depart from his or her training? And who would be praised if a child doesn't depart from his or her training?
Did you see what I did there? People would always point fingers or put blames when things go bad. It's almost easy to blame the parents when their children go the wrong way because everyone thinks it is their responsibility to make sure they don't. But we have also seen children who grow up to be great adults that many parents wish they have for themselves. In that case, the parents are praised.
I think I'll go with the thought that the blame goes to both sides depending on the situation of each family and how they go about their training. For parents who are well grounded on how to train up a child, try their best in giving what they can to their children for them to live aright, the children will have to bear the consequences of them departing from those effort made on them.
For parents who do nothing to better their children but just give birth to them and do whatever they want in the presence of their children. If the children should go astray, the parents would face the consequences.
But let's face the truth, some parents have done their best and still have the worst versions of children and some parents have done almost nothing for their children but turns out they have the best children out there.
This is where it gets complicated...
I would say we don't find who to blame when a child goes bad or in the wrong way. Instead, we should focus to know if for a fact, that child has gone through a training regarding that issue. If a child is trained on something, he or she is very much aware of the responsibilities that comes with their action.
The truth is, whether we blame the parents or the children, everyone will face the consequences of their actions whether good or bad. So imagine blaming the parents for a child turned adult's bad action and the adult is going to face the consequences in the future, not the parents. Won't the blame be wrong?
I will say parents should just be encouraged to be very intentional in how they train their children especially when they are young and active to learn everything they get curious about. That way, they can take responsibility for their actions when they are older.
Images are AI generated
