The holiday season is fully underway and while parents seek ways to entertain their children, care has to be taken at all times.
According to the Bedfordview SAPS spokesperson, Warrant Officer Mduduzi Nhlabathi, parents are at times negligent when it comes to allowing their teenage children to go out.
He said parents should not let malls babysit their children.
“There is nothing wrong with parents dropping off their teens to watch movies or to have dinner with peers at shopping malls. The problem comes in where some of them go about doing the opposite of what they were left to do in the first place,” said W/O Nhlabathi.
He said parents should always know what their children are up to.
“We are concerned that these children partake in underage drinking as well as underage sex. We also fear their safety might be threatened while they are under the influence of illegal substances,” said W/O Nhlabathi.
A resident, Mr Lucky Dinake, said although the number of teens in malls is not a problem, the activities some of them get up to are alarming.
“Undercover parking lots and badly-lit corners of shopping centres on Friday and Saturday nights are hot-spots. Some of the teenagers are visibly under the influence of something. Also, a large percentage of them are usually scantily dressed,” said Mr Dinake.
Another resident said as much as parents give their children the talks about what substance abuse can do, people are always too quick to judge.
“Parents don’t give their children permission to drink and take drugs or behave badly, but as a parent, you do the best you can. The rest is up to the individual and whether a teenager decides to do certain things is not always in the parent’s control. Society itself plays a role in the behaviour of children and teenagers,” said the mother of two teenagers.
W/O Nhlabathi warned teenagers against participating in illegal activities.
He said whether underage or not, if caught taking drugs and partaking in underage and public drinking or drug abuse, there will be consequences.
