Mindless vandals!
In the early hours of last Friday morning 85 cars had their rear windows smashed in five streets not far from where I live. A further 10 cars were damaged in a neighbouring area. Residents were woken between 3:30 and 4:30 am and in one street two teenage boys were seen riding off on bikes laughing their heads off.
Am I wrong to wonder what these children's parents are doing letting them wander about at this time of the night. I think they should be made to work and pay for all the repairs, many people are saying the parents should be held responsible. There has been a sharp decline in morality and the trouble is that many parents condone unacceptable behaviour in their children. Until parents invest sufficient time in teaching their children to respect the social norms of our society I don't see things changing any time soon. The above incident has caused a lot of heartache and incurred cost for hard working and the many elderly people who are managing on a limited budget. It has given extra work for the window repair firms, and will probably result in insurance companies hoisting the premiums. The vandals are probably boasting to their friends and if they do I hope someone will be sensible enough to turn them into the police but sadly I don't see that happening.
When I originally started drafting this post a week ago it was going to be about the vandals who smashed our house number.
We bought the tiles, a few years ago when we were in Portugal as a reminder of a lovely family holiday. The tiles have been smashed for quite some time but it was only last weekend that I got Embee to put up another number plate (one of his little holiday jobs). This time it is metal so I'm hoping it's here to stay! 
Our problem is nothing compared to the people who have suffered damage to their cars, but it is nevertheless a symptom of the declining standards in society. Am I being unfair or have you similar experiences where you live?!?!Labels: house number, vandalism
posted by ChrisB @ 8:25 am
25 comments
25 Comments:
That is one of my biggest complaints about children today. That and it seems many parents don't know how to teach their kids how to say "Please" and "thank you". It makes me want to smack the parents a few times when their 7 year old is a rude person. There is no excuse for that.
nikki well said I agree. My niece was saying on Friday when she visited me, that people think she is always on at her children (4 and 6) for constantly reminding them about their manners but it's the only way they will learn. They already remember their pleases and thank you's so its working and it's a pleasure to take them anywhere.
Proper values have to come from parents as kids don't get the fact that this is more than a bit of almost harmless fun.
Don't get me going on this topic. I blame the politically correct brigade, who stopped corporal punishment in schools! Let the little b***tards have a good belt.
Horrible....
I think there are MANY factors that lead to the downfall of our children...Parents not caring, drugs, mainstream media, role-models being rap stars and hoodlum sports heroes, and so much more.
I'm always after my children to use manners, too, and it gets annoying, but it's part of the job!
We live in the country, and one problem we have sometimes is kids riding around and smashing mailboxes with baseball bats.
I feel bad for the people who have to fix their windows, through no fault of their own.Of course the parents of these kids will probably blame someone else, because it couldn't be 'their Johnny's fault!'
A few years ago I was awoken by a noise around 3AM. I got up to look and saw a youth running down the street smashing in letterboxes. As he had is foot in the air to kick my letterbox I flung the window open and yelled as loud as I could the word the rhymes with duck followed by off. He got such a fright he lost his balance and fell to the ground. When I yelled I'm calling the police he found his feet and ran off down the street. The funniest thing though was Bryan was asleep, he awoke suddenly when I yelled, jumped out of bed and ran smack bang into the door. We still laugh about it now. But I did at least save the our letterbox and the remainder in the street.
This is one of my worries after the incident with Liam. Will he become the teenager who does this sort of stuff? I hope not, if so he would definitely be paying for any damages.
And yes, we do have that sort of stuff going on around here.
Occasionally, teens will play mailbox baseball driving by and hitting all of the mailboxes on the street with a baseball bat. I do not think that the vandalism is worse than years ago. However, too many children are killed by gun violence in a nearby city. Yet, I am encouraged that the behavior of the young teens at the school where I teach has improved over all in the past few years.
I am sorry about your lovely tiles and the cars. Vandalism is a pointless crime that benefits no one.
In the evenings the local hoodies in our town hang around the supermarket entrance and mug old people for whatever they have in their bags as they come out. Some even grab the bag and run off with it. This happens most nights of the week and the manager says he is powerless to do anything. The police warned him not to touch the kids or he would be in trouble! It's unbelievable!
Me? I only shop there in daylight when the brats are in school.
Oh that's terrible!
I hope they get caught and harsh punishment given to them.
I was in the classroom for 25 years, and was amazed at the change in parents through the years.
Seems like there was no accountability for bad behavior. The parents just wouldn't allow it.
Several months ago, about 15 cars in the same area here were vandalized by breaking out windows and setting the insides on fire. It was teenagers...
BUT, I was following a commercial truck close to Pueblo, CO, on a stretch of highway that had just had the center line painted. The truck weaved in and out of both lanes over the wet paint for about a mile just making a total mess. I copied the license and called the police. When we finally got into town, I was so surprised to see two middle-aged guys in the truck.
AC as kids we used to scrump apples but we knew it was really stealing and when I found a purse with just a few coins in it I took it straight to the police station, I think that the odds on that happening these days is greatly reduced. I remember being so thrilled when I got to keep the purse a few months later when it wasn't claimed.
john g didn't mean to get you wound up!!
karmyn I agree drugs and role models hav ea big influence on today's children.
lisa it is hard work rearing children with strong moral values but I agree it's very much the parent role. Of course sometimes peer pressure and the media are stronger influences but I won't get into that topic!
barbara your little story gave me a chuckle :)
emma hopefully a one off silly mistake to impress a friend.
mjd gun crime is getting quite bad here and involving more younger children which is worrying but it's good to hear you have seen improvement in the behaviour of your younger pupils.
Pontillius Hi thank you for visiting. I'm glad I don't live near that supermarket. I must admit I am quite nervous going out at night and walking where there aren't many people.
la bellina mammina unfortunately the courts seem to have gone a bit soft and the kids know this which is all part of the problem.
swampwitch the truckers and the paint says it all kids don't stand a chance with adult role models like that!
I won't go into a rant, but this really pisses me off! I like the new number though.
We live in a tiny village. A few years ago, there was a 14 yr old boy who went round breaking locks of garages and kicking front doors. He kicked our front door hard enough to crack the panel (the door now has to be replaced...we've yet to replace it - doors are expensive!) and he also poured a lot of water through our letter-slot in the front door. We arrived home to a wet floor with soggy mail. I called the police. I knew who did it.
The police's reaction? Sort of weird really. On one hand they harassed me asking me how I knew it was this boy. I explained several times that I'd told the boy off for intentionally shoving my then 5 1/2 yr old son (who was on his bike) into a stone wall, scraping all the skin off his little knuckles. I told him to pick on someone his own size blah blah blah.
Despite the police's 'legalistic' stance, they went round and talked with the boy and his parents. It didn't happen again. Thankfully, this family moved away from the village and we haven't had anything like this since. Except recently, someone stole the trunk (that we all used to store our daily newspapers in) from the Village Hall. Probably someone driving through thought, 'Oh, a nice trunk. I think I'll have it.'
We replaced the trunk with another one. But this time it's nailed to the bench.
Sorry to hear about your lovely tiles being smashed! Argh.
Your pretty Portual numbers all smashed up...what a shame. You could always come over here and look at mine!
beccy don't rub it in!
tigger lamb girl I think it's good that the police in your village are still prepared to act 'in the old style' much more effective, if the police came to your house when I was kid or a teacher sent a note that was enough for additional punishment such was the respect back in the 50's this was actually a strong deterrent.
Terrible!But we have here the same problem!Young peoples(all under 18) had broken our front window of our car too and stolen the already 2 times the car radio (last year).Really sad and terrible!I hate it to live in such big city!
something similar happened here two weeks ago. someone went around bashing in front and back windows of cars.
idleness, wickedness, no parental control, drugs, etc etc etc
steffi and pamela it seems to be a universal problem mores the pity and there seems to be no effective deterrent!
When we lived in Texas it was not unusual to have damages such as those. Thankfully, up here in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin the police keep close tabs on kids and we have very little. It makes the news if a father and daughter have a spat or a dog goes missing but those things don't happen often.
lisa's chaos now that's what it should be like!
what a shame about your pretty number plate...tho the new one is quite nice as well.
it's terrible about the car vandals...we had an incident on our street a month back, our neighbour's cars. now we have to remember to lock the cars each night...
elena jane we would never dare to leave the cars unlocked. My hubby can be a bit careless but I'm paranoid about checking.
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