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Is it your fault that your child got arrested?

On Behalf of | Sep 25, 2019 | Juvenile Charges |

When a child gets in trouble with the law, parents often blame themselves. They think they did something to turn the child into a criminal or to encourage that behavior. They feel like they failed as parents.

However, researchers say that it is not always the parents’ fault, and it is not fair for them to blame themselves. They may have done absolutely nothing wrong. All children are different. They come with different attitudes, behaviors, personalities and temperaments. Parents cannot change many of these factors. In fact, some researchers have found genetic components. To a large degree, the path that the child takes is out of the parents’ hands, even from an early age.

That does not mean that parents should not teach their children right from wrong or that they should not set a good example. This does have an impact on the type of life that the child leads. Parents need to be aware that they can influence the child’s decisions and the way they interact with the world.

But they also need to know that they can’t do everything. As their children grow up, they get to make their own choices. They get to pick their own path. What they choose is based on far more than simply the way that their parents raised them or the type of home life that they had.

If your child gets arrested, do not waste time and energy blaming yourself or asking what you did wrong. Instead, just focus on looking into your legal options to protect your child’s future.

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