A large number of teenagers today get involved in anti-social and other criminal activities. This is quite distressing because teenage years are a wonderful period of life when children should be busy working towards building a flourishing career and a secure future. There are many reasons for the increase in crime rate among teenagers and children. Children coming from well-to-do families are less prone to get into crime and other anti-social activities. This is because they are answerable to someone at home. This fear of authority will also automatically deter them from indulging in these sorts of criminal activities. And what’s more! Children experience more emotional security in a loving family which makes them less prone to developing criminal tendencies. On the other hand, children of divorced parents have to deal with a lot of stress. The chronic absence of one parent can have a huge impact on the emotional background of the child.
Although the economic detonation is making more people rich, rising inequality, poor education and persistent unemployment have helped prompt a spike in juvenile crime. Juveniles usually end up forming gangs with boys older than their age and then graduate from stealing mobile phones in local trains, buses and houses of people to murdering people, kidnapping children and raping girls. Another reason behind the rise in crimes is the glorification of violence in films and television serials. Even family oriented films and television serials depict an overdose of crime — kidnapping, stealing, rapes and murders. The list is endless! All this influences the mind of a child. Children, especially boys feel it is fashionable to be a criminal today.
It is also common in present times to see teenagers smoking and drinking. Young people fail to foresee the consequences of their actions. I have never smoked a cigarette or consumed alcohol. When I was young, my best friend was caught for smoking secretly in school. His parents became very depressed when they were told about it. I tried my best to convince my friend to kick his bad habit, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He passed away because of cancer. This incident taught me that one’s teenage years are the most important part of one’s life. These years serve to bridge the gap between childhood and adulthood.
Parents should be strict with their children. Schools should also take stern action against students who smoke. The effects of smoking on human health are serious and in many cases, deadly too. More than 4,000 different chemicals are present in cigarettes, out of which hundreds are toxic. These affect everything, from the internal organs to the body’s immune system. Nicotine reaches the brain within seconds of the smoke being inhaled. Carbon monoxide binds itself to the haemoglobin in the red blood cells far more effectively than oxygen; thus, these cells, which were supposed to carry oxygen to different parts of the body, are unable to do so. As a result of this, the heart has to work much harder to supply adequate oxygen to the body. Cigarettes and alcohol must be given up in favour of a healthy life.
Jubel D’Cruz
