Why do some kids act out more than others?
Why is there always that one student who gets great grades and follows every rule in the book, while another is getting arrested before the age of 20?
There is no factual answer to these questions, no scientific reason for which ones are “good kids” or “bad kids.”
In most cases, people just blame it on society or peer pressure.
Yes, these can affect how we grow up, but how can we follow the rules if they’re not enforced by parents in the first place?
According to childtrends.org, more than 80 percent of adolescents think highly of their parents.
They watch us grow up, and, for the most part, will always be in our lives.
If we’re taught the basics at a young age — respect for people, responsibility for our actions and self-control — then we will carry them on as we get older.
Teenagers tell stories all the time about their parents allowing them to drink at parties or even giving away alcohol to them and their friends.
This shocks me because I always thought of parents as authority figures who enforce the rules.
I actually feel sorry for those kids because that is the example their parents will have set for them the rest of their lives — that it is OK to break the law.
Parents can be held liable if their underage kids are drinking in their own home. Even if the parents are not aware of the drinking.
What can be just plain bad parenting can result in legal issues.
So why take the risk?
I always hear kids in the hallway saying ‘My parents don’t care what I do.’
Those are the parents who are either oblivious to what their children are doing or are too stressed out to think about it.
We can all understand stress, but giving teenagers unlimited freedom is like showing us that there are no rules in the real world.
And that isn’t reality.
While we see some teens bragging about this, deep down they are probably vying for more attention from their parents.
Instead of being jealous of the students with lenient parents, I feel sorry they will never learn that all actions come with consequences.
And having no consequences shows us that what we’re doing is always “no big deal.”
So next time your parents don’t let you do something that all your friends are allowed to do, consider yourself lucky that they love you enough to care.

How do your parents influence you? Leave a comment.