Second Speaker of the Opposition Team

This House Believes That Parents Should Be Held Responsible For Their school-going Children Discipline Problem

A very good morning to the chairperson, our honorable adjudicators, ever precise time keeper, my dear opposition members and members of the floor. The motion today is This House Believes That Parents Should Be Held Responsible For Their school-going Children Discipline Problem. However, as my first speaker has just mentioned just now, we, the opposition team strongly DISAGREE with this motion and hereby, again, we invite the government team to join us in supporting our stand, which is, Parents Should NOT Be Held Responsible For Their school-going Children Discipline Problem.Before I begin with my point, please allow me to refute the two points stated by the deputy prime minister.

The deputy prime minister said that, I quote

firstwrite exactly what the deputy prime minister said .

and, second

This is totally misleading and not true. then carry on with your rebuttal

Now, as the second speaker of the opposition team, I would like to AGAIN, propose to you our stand, that, Parents Should NOT Be Held Responsible For Their school-going Children Discipline Problem. I will support my argument with concrete proofs and evidence as below.Ladies and gentlemen,

The second point from us, the opposition team, is that parents should make their children learn to bear the consequences of their own actions.

Members of the floor, children should have the sense of individual responsibility in dealing with the discipline problems they cause. Even if they are under aged, children should learn the sense of individual responsibility from childhood, especially when they have entered schooling age.

According to Parenting expert, Juney on her articles posted on 17th October2013 Children should develop their own Individual Responsibility earlier. It should be so, because children should be taught to be less dependent to their parents and to other elders in such a way that they learn to behave by themselves. For a child, it is very common to commit mistakes. By this, parents should know how to resolve such situations and teach their children do the right thing. In this manner, children would be developing their responsibility.

Also, NYU Child Study Center in New York reported that, I quote From ages 3 to 6, as these brain regions become more mature, children show improved ability to control their impulses, shift their attention flexibly, and delay gratification to wait for a reward. Preschoolers gradually come to recognize rules and the consequences of their behavior. As children reach school age, they begin to understand the reasons for rules; the rules become internalized and children show an increasing sense of responsibility and self control. Most school age children are sensitive to the ideas of fairness and justice and are able to weigh the needs of others as they make decisions. During adolescence, kids gradually become ready to take responsibility for their own behavior.

Due to that, when it comes to the discipline problems, children should be taught to take their own accountability for their misbehaviours so that they can LITERALLY learn what the true meaning of responsibility is. If it is the parents who are to be held responsible, the children would never know the seriousness of their misbehaviours. When lessons are not learnt, they will keep repeating it again and again. Ladies and gentlemen, instead of putting the blame and accountability on parents, all parties should help the children to learn to be independent and bear the fruits of their mischiefs. Yes, developing self-control is a slow process. However, our ultimate goal is to help children internalize self-control and then, solve the discipline problems by making them realize what is right or wrong.Members of the floor,

Now, I will proceed to the third point of the opposition team, which is parents role as assisting and monitoring agents.

Based on the research from the website Studymode.com, there are more than 70% of parents in Malaysian are working or employed. Socio-economic conditions in Malaysia have contributed to the need for dual incomes for families.Apart from that, the Study on Childcare and Parenting Styles among working Parents in Malaysia done by the Ministry of National Unity and Social Development in 2008, stated that working parents have to cope with providing optimum care and parenting for their children in an environment of changing family values, traditions and support systems. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, the time has changed. With current trend in which both parents are working, parents should not be held responsible for their children discipline problems. Instead, they should be playing the roles as monitoring and assisting agent who assists children in shaping their personality and behaviors.

Parents, just like the school authority at school, should reinforce good behaviors in the children by guiding them through the process of growing up. State Government of Victoria stated in 2004 that, a child naturally wants the love and approval of their parents, so one of the easiest ways to encourage good behaviour is for children to know what behaviour is expected of them and to know they will be recognised and encouraged for it. Through the interaction and communication, parents guide and assist children to achieve acceptable behaviors. Again, here, I would like to insist, this does not mean parents are held responsible for the childrens behaviours, but just playing the role as persons who guide and assist them. Whether the children can grow up and acquire socially acceptable behaviors, parents have no power over it. In the October 2011 issue of Parents magazine, Ed Christophersen, Ph.D., clinical child psychologist at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, in Kansas City, Missouri said that "The mistake most parents make is thinking they can control the behaviours of the children," According the him, Parents should monitor and remain involved in every level of their childs process. Open communication between parents and children helps to increase each childs self-esteem and confidence, which helps to improve childrens behaviour. For example, parents can ask questions about their childs experience at school and have open conversations each day about school. Maintaining a positive home environment helps to increase the morale of children. Parents should maintain a positive and supportive home environment for their children on a regular basis.Members of the floor, even the clinical child psychologist strongly agrees with our stand that parents should not be responsible for their childrens discipline problems, but to play a role to monitor and to assist them via daily communication.

In conclusion, we, the opposition team, strongly believe that Parents should NOT be held responsible for their school-going children discipline problem because parents should make their children learn to bear the consequences of their own actions and parents are assisting and monitoring agents for children. Thank you.