Expert: Parents Are Fully Responsible For Kids

10:44 PM, Jul 13, 2012   |    comments
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Greensboro, NC -- When it comes to teenagers and curfews, parents are ultimately the people who are responsible.

After recent incidents with teens out late at night in downtown Greensboro and Winston-Salem, a lot of people asked, "where are the parents?"

On Friday, News 2 spoke with a woman who counsels parents and families, making sure parents aren't looking the other way.

"Kids are social. And they need to be with their friends. So parents need to be very realistic and very fair, and at the same time be responsible and know what's happening with the kids," said Sue Spidell, with Family Services of the Piedmont.

Spidell said parents are experts when it comes to their own family, but they also have all the responsibility. She added that that their responsibilities don't change, regardless of any curfew a city might impose.

Spidell said first of all, it's a parent's job to set the ground rules and the curfew for each home.

Along with the rules, parents need to know where their kids are, what they're doing, and who they're with all the time, even if that means picking up the phone to call the parents of their friends.

"It's not checking up on your kids just because you don't trust them. But checking up on your kids because you do trust them," said Spidell.

Spidell said the step that parents miss the most is laying out consequences and enforcing them consistently.

"Sooner or later, this is the way our world works that your actions have consequences. And so, if these kids can learn that in the environment of a home, where there are loving parents that are trying to teach them that, it's a whole lot more effective than when they're out in the world and they have to learn that lesson the hard way," said Spidell.

WFMY News 2

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