HOME AFFAIRS: Indiscipline in the home impacts society

Acts of indiscipline seem to have become a normal phenomenon in our everyday lives now.For some people, indiscipline is a sign of modernity, fashion or masculinity.Indiscipline in our world today does not reflect only in our way of dressing, but also our attitude towards life and our way of doing things.

Indiscipline is rampant in the society today especially among children.  It is a behavioural disorder that is classified as an act of delinquency.  It includes lying, stealing, playing truants or running away from home.

It is often the cause of a lot of mental, emotional and physical damage.  An undisciplined child is an uncontrollable child and can do just any damage when he/she does not get whatever he/she wants.

Acts of discipline begin from our various habitats.  If a child is not taught how to be disciplined, the possibility of the child living an indiscipline life is very high.  It is very easy for a child to copy blindly attitudes from parents or guardians, especially when those attitudes are exceptionally against the norms and values of society.

The society can be partially blamed for the decline in standards of discipline.Moral and spiritual values are being shunned by society all in the name of modernity and technology.Society seems to have lost track of the essence of a disciplined life.

Parents, too, have a very significant role to play in the lives of children.  It is a parent’s duty to bring up a child in a disciplined and obedient manner.

However, most parents today failed to bring up their children in the way they should and when such children become nuisance to them and society, they begin to wonder where the problem started from. 

For Jamila Colley, a resident of Tallinding, said the lack of parental guidance is the number one factor of indiscipline in society. 

“Most parents have this belief that their children spend more time in schools than at home and therefore the teachers are responsible for making sure that the children are disciplined.  What the parents don’t know is that many schools do not equip teachers for counseling roles,” she said.

“Apart from that, sorry to say this, but most illiterate parents don’t care about the affairs of their kids when they [children] are outside the house.  As a result, kids are left idling on the streets and are free to do any action they feel like, good or evil.”

Ms Colley also pointed out that lack of communication between a child and mother is a contributing factor to indiscipline; children are not given the attention they need.

She also noted that the media have its own roles in disciplining youth because nowadays young boys and girls copy or do whatever they see on the media.

“Some TV channels show sexual contents and the more sexual content the children see on these channels, the earlier they will initiate sexual activities,” the young lady said.

Peer pressure is also a contributing factor because many children even those that have the proper home training can be influenced to do all sorts of things by their friends.

Due to peer influence, some children engage in smoking, drinking alcohol, stealing, and all sorts of things because they want to be associated with their peers.

“There is a saying that the home is the first school, so I believe if there is lack of leadership, control and guidance at home it will be difficult for children to be disciplined,” the young lady said.

“Some parents fail in providing direction and guidance to their children; they fail to assist their children in developing internal self-control.”

For Sainabou Ceesay, a 24-year-old resident of Serekunda London Corner, one of the main causes of indiscipline among the youth is peer pressure.

She said many youth try so hard for social acceptance and they think by doing things that they saw their indiscipline peers doing will make it easier for them to be accepted.

She noted that many people have the mentality that parents should be the only ones to discipline children.  She said such beliefs lead children not to have even the minimum respect for other people because they feel that those people do not have the right to correct them.

Parents need to keep an eye on their children and should ensure that the children move with the right company.

“Lack of proper home training and poor parental guidance also makes child indiscipline; most parents over pamper their kids to the extent that they don’t fulfill their roles as parents by training the children to become useful in society,” Ms Ceesay said.

To her, because of parents over pampering of children, they [children] believe that they must have everything they request for.

“If their parents do not provide the request, there is trouble and this has gone to a point that it seems that some parents are afraid of their kids.