It's understandable that some parents can go to the extreme when it comes to parenting or disciplining their child, and these can lead to kids feeling like they're being abused or deprived of one thing or another, but does that mean children should be given the right to sue their parents for any slight offence or wrongdoings or not? Personally, I believe that we all as humans have the right to do things the way we deem fit, but for a child towards their own parents, I feel this is a complex question and a more complicated decision to make, and in this article I'll give you an insight into why I said so and my take on everything.
Now why I said it's complex is because there are several factors that must first be considered before we can pick a side, factors such as legal, cultural, and moral perspectives of the situation, and in stating my stands, I'll first need to delve into the positive aspect of why it's okay for children to sue their parents and then delve into positive reasons why children shouldn't, and in the end, hopefully we'll be able to reach a conclusion on which is best or find a way to strike a balance that strengthens parent-child relationships.
So firstly, talking about why it's okay for children to sue their parents, number one on this list, I'll say, is because of the need to protect them from abuse and neglect. A lot of parents have, all in the name of discipline, injured a child or even abused them, while others just neglected their duties as parents and faced other things. Now those can be detrimental to a child, and without any steps being taken, such an act would continue without the parents knowing they're doing something terrible, and that's why I felt it's ideal for children to sue their parents, and when that's done, a child who's neglected can be taken to someone else's custody, and those emotionally or physically abused can be moved to a better place, or their parents would be cautioned to become better.
Also, another reason why is because of some legal rights children have. I attended a program sometime last year where these were explained, and it's called the safeguarding the rights of a child, where a child has rights to education, basic needs, and several other things. Now, as a parent, before you usher a child into the world, you should be certain you can provide all of these to them, and when you can't, it's more like depriving them of their rights, and a child should be able to sue parents who can't give them their basic needs and aren't showing signs of willingness to do that. In fact, some parents, rather than send their children to school, instead have that child work or hawk solely to bring them money.
And last but not least on why I felt children should have the right to sue their parents is due to the financial crisis. I've witnessed a situation when a child was made to inherit the debt of his parents; this became a big issue that affected his life and progress. That's not the way to go as parents, and this is why a child must have the right to sue his or her parents in such a situation so they won't be made to shoulder the fault or repercussions of their parents recklessness in finance.
Now on the other side, talking about positive reasons why it's not ideal for children to sue their parents, to start with, I'll say because of parental authority and guidance, we all know parents play a huge role in the lives of their children, and when kids have rights to sue them for every action, it'll undermine the parents authority and go on to make it difficult for parents to discipline, guide, or instill moral values in their wards effectively.
Another reason why I said this is because of the family and emotional bonds. On a normal day, families have misunderstandings and usually settle them with love within themselves without any external interference, so giving a child rights to sue their parents severely breaks the bond and family ties, which will lead to resentment between parents and their children.
Also, a lack of maturity is one thing we shouldn't overlook; kids still need mentorship, and giving them such a right at a tender age will lead to abuse because of their lack of maturity and understanding about how life works, not forgetting that giving room to sue parents will make children go blind to effective alternative solutions that have helped resolve issues within families in times past. I remember there are times when extended families or elders like grandparents are the ones who resolve issues between parents and their children, but taking legal actions will render those options useless.
With that being said, I'd like to conclude this write-up by saying that while this topic is a complex one, we must give children the right to sue their parents in severe cases such as negligence, extreme abuse, and the like, while alternative solutions should be sought after when dealing with minor issues between parents and their children; not everything should go legal to be resolved, and the age of the child as well as the nature of the issue should be vetted; else our courtrooms will become a laughing stock where irrelevant issues, such as they didn't give me dessert after dinner, are resolved.
All photos are mine.
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