What do you think about DC Police Chief Robert Contee's views on parents' role in preventing crime?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recall President Obama, early in his first term, criticizing absentee fathers in the Black community.

I also recall the massive wave of criticism he received, such that he rarely repeated his earlier criticism.

Are President Obama and Chief Conte wrong?

As I understand it, the majority of families in DC are two parent households. Not married but the children have a father in their lives. They need better fathers though, good role models instead of bad ones.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:Luke Garrett of WTOP News has asked for feedback from parents regarding views expressed by DC Police Chief Robert Contee about the role parents have in preventing youth crime. Please post your response here and you might be quoted on WTOP. Here is an excerpt from Contee's remarks:

“And we need to, you know, focus in on that community members can call that type of stuff in I think parents have a clear role in a lot of the stuff that's going on, what do you allow your child to do or not to not do? Parents, you have to be parents. And that is important. That's an important piece that we don't talk a lot about. But it is very, very, very important. My mother is four foot 11. But I'll tell you as a kid, I was scared to death of her because she did not play. And I think we have kids sometimes who oftentimes don't even show their parents respect. And that's something that as a community, we really have to have to deal with.”

The full interview is here:

https://dmvdownload.wtop.com/episode/police-chief-contee-on-dcs-violent-start-to-2023/

He needs to be careful with that children should be scared to death of their parents. CFSA uses that as an excuse in hearings before the family court to show neglect snd abuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think he's right. It starts at home. And it's not about poverty. The only thing money gets you is the ability to buy yourself out of punishment for your crimes.
We have now 2 generations of people being raised to be entirely self absorbed and that the rules don't apply to them. Just take a look at the other threads in this form a good chunk are about how to get my kid out of xyz, my kid shouldn't have to do this because xyz. Unending selfishness

My unpopular opinion is that the current trend for society to condone - not just accept, but actively condone - individual's decisions on how they live their lives is resulting in a lack of social norms. Without some semblance of community, the individual feels free to do whatever they want without concern of judgement or punishment. Sometimes that fear is what keeps people doing the right thing.

And I'm not talking about LGTQ+ rights, before people start yelling at me. I'm talking about the fact that social media feeds this mentality that anything mainstream is to be rejected, but we know that some of those mainstream ideas work for a healthy society, like two parent households, jobs for income, respect for teachers/school, respect for community leaders, etc. At some point, what's good for the individual has to be secondary to what's good for the majority and that's okay.

Agree that the pendulum has swung too far. It's not just hurting society it's hurting kids.

Maybe parenting classes need to happen in school as part of a life skills curriculum.

I agree with both of you.

The pendulum has swung way too far, and adding social media has just made the whole thing a toxic, confusing, disaster for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think he's right. It starts at home. And it's not about poverty. The only thing money gets you is the ability to buy yourself out of punishment for your crimes.
We have now 2 generations of people being raised to be entirely self absorbed and that the rules don't apply to them. Just take a look at the other threads in this form a good chunk are about how to get my kid out of xyz, my kid shouldn't have to do this because xyz. Unending selfishness

My unpopular opinion is that the current trend for society to condone - not just accept, but actively condone - individual's decisions on how they live their lives is resulting in a lack of social norms. Without some semblance of community, the individual feels free to do whatever they want without concern of judgement or punishment. Sometimes that fear is what keeps people doing the right thing.

And I'm not talking about LGTQ+ rights, before people start yelling at me. I'm talking about the fact that social media feeds this mentality that anything mainstream is to be rejected, but we know that some of those mainstream ideas work for a healthy society, like two parent households, jobs for income, respect for teachers/school, respect for community leaders, etc. At some point, what's good for the individual has to be secondary to what's good for the majority and that's okay.

Agree that the pendulum has swung too far. It's not just hurting society it's hurting kids.

Maybe parenting classes need to happen in school as part of a life skills curriculum.

I agree with both of you.

The pendulum has swung way too far, and adding social media has just made the whole thing a toxic, confusing, disaster for our kids.

Yep. The number of parents I know who are not happy with what their teens are doing but don't feel like they can do anything about it...yet pay for everything never cease to amaze me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids see their mothers disrespected in every context in the community--this translates into disrespect in the home. Until women are treated with respect in this society, there will be no change.

I think it's the other way around, TBH. Are there respected, respectful men in these kids' lives?

My son doesn't have a father or father figure in his life. That isn't an impediment to raising a respectful son.

You are 100% correct that a respectful son can be raised w/o a father in the house or a father figure. But I'm willing to be a large sum of money that in your circle, the men your son knows mostly have jobs and are responsible fathers to their own families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids see their mothers disrespected in every context in the community--this translates into disrespect in the home. Until women are treated with respect in this society, there will be no change.

I think it's the other way around, TBH. Are there respected, respectful men in these kids' lives?

My son doesn't have a father or father figure in his life. That isn't an impediment to raising a respectful son.

You are 100% correct that a respectful son can be raised w/o a father in the house or a father figure. But I'm willing to be a large sum of money that in your circle, the men your son knows mostly have jobs and are responsible fathers to their own families.

I can't say that he knows much of anything about the men in his life. He has a few male teachers and some male neighbors but that's about it. His close friends have a mix of no dads and dads in the picture.

[Anonymous]

Yes I agree, he’s right. Is it the police jOb to teach parenting? No.

This week the 5th Circuit found the domestic violence provision in 922 federal firearm restriction statute unconstitutional so no gun control isnt happening any time soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recall President Obama, early in his first term, criticizing absentee fathers in the Black community.

I also recall the massive wave of criticism he received, such that he rarely repeated his earlier criticism.

Are President Obama and Chief Conte wrong?

As I understand it, the majority of families in DC are two parent households. Not married but the children have a father in their lives. They need better fathers though, good role models instead of bad ones.

https://www.dchealthmatters.org/indicators/index/view?indicatorId=411&localeTypeId=3&periodId=6955

Depends on zip code. But “the majority” means over half, and even 40 percent of homes having only one parent is still pretty bad. In some places it is 70 percent with a single parent.