Poor parenting and MTV Cribs to blame for recent London Riots | General Dad Chat | Dad Chat Forums

A community worker in London blames the recent riots on poor parenting skills. H emay have a point.

The article was in The Times but has been copied below.

Ever heard of MTV Cribs? If you have not, your teenage children probably have. It is a voyeuristic journey into the homes of some of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
Hip-hop stars, actors, models and others show off their multimillion-pound possessions, from infinity pools to aeroplanes, pimped-out hummers, private screening rooms, water-parks and, in one episode, even a caged white tiger.
Shaun Bailey, a youth worker of 22 years who was recently appointed as one of the Government’s Big Society ambassadors, thinks that the ostentatious television programme provides a clue to what lies behind this week’s shocking riots.
Mr Bailey argues that the show is the ultimate example of how western culture has become choked with consumerism, making children of all races and all social backgrounds want more than they have.
He does not think that young people ransacked some of the country’s biggest cities to make a political statement or to rally against inequality. Instead, he believes that many joined in throwing bricks, smashing windows and looting businesses to satisfy a much more basic desire: “To get some gear.”
“If this was a social reaction,” he says, “it was a social reaction to the need for Gucci jeans”.
As well as consumerism, teenagers were driven by an age-old desire “to give the authorities a punch on the nose”, he says.
If those urges were the elements that made the riots possible, then it was a lack of personal responsibility in British society that provided the catalyst, he suggests.
The charity worker talks of parents who assume professionals will bring up their children for them; police officers too afraid of the media to act; a justice system that “warehouses” teenagers without educating them; and teachers whose hands are so tightly tied that they feel unable to give clear messages about right and wrong. Mr Bailey leans against a wall emblazoned with elaborate graffiti. He is standing on the side of a sunken basketball court, speaking about how the trouble flared up locally.
He tips his head upwards towards the imposing structure of the Trellick Tower, an iconic, 31-storey housing estate in West London looming above him.
For more than two decades, Mr Bailey has worked with young people in this part of the capital. The streets that span out around him have, like so many other parts of the capital and beyond, been the scene of a burgeoning gang culture.
Mr Bailey set up his charity, My Generation, here — in a basic office at the foot of the famous tower block. It aims to help young people whose lives have been blighted through truancy, drugs, teenage pregnancy, unemployment and crime.
Last year, Mr Bailey ran as a candidate for the Conservative Party. Although he was unsuccessful, he caught the eye of David Cameron, who included him in a video at the party’s manifesto launch.
He has since been appointed as an ambassador for the Big Society — a policy that has been lampooned by the media and political opponents, but that Mr Bailey believes holds the key to the solution.
He walks back to the office, sits down and places his mobile phone, buzzing with calls and messages, to one side. Mr Bailey describes how all the children he works with, however poor their backgrounds, turn up with similar gadgets as well as other items such as iPods and designer trainers.
But they all want more, he says. It is not what they have, it is “what I haven’t got”, he bellows, mimicking some of the local children.
He tells an astonishing story of a 15-year-old boy who bought himself a car, to show off his wealth, and then drove to a youth offender meeting.
Some of those who burned down buildings and attacked police were part of organised gangs who used the trouble as a cover for their criminal activities, says Mr Bailey. But the vast majority followed once the looting began — drawn out by the social media messages that spread the message like a virus. They were teenagers who would never have started the trouble but once the first window was smashed, they saw an opportunity and took it.
Partly it was a “jolly”, he says, “the next big thing”, “camaraderie” — few even knowing who Mark Duggan was. But it was a desire for goods too. “We have trained our children to consume. Watch MTV Cribs then tell me if I’m wrong.”
The charity worker describes how he lives at one end of Portobello road, while Madonna lives at the other. Same street, different lives,” is one of his sayings. “Modern society means I see everything that Madonna sees but I can only have a fraction of it.” Even the wealthiest children want more, he says.
Mr Bailey blames popular culture, giving the example of the artist 50 Cent — who has an album entitled Get Rich or Die Tryin’. The attitude is rife not only in hip-hop but throughout popular music.
That same culture has normalised violence for many young people. In the past, the “Mods and Rockers were a race apart” but that is less the case for gangs today, he says. Many young people are a bit “numb” about violence — it simply isn’t a big deal.
Perhaps that explains why there are few archetypes in those who took part in the rioting. Most were teenagers or in the early-20s but there were rich and poor, “goths, hip-hoppers, stoners, skaters . . .” white, black and Asian, he says. “It has not been about race,” adds Mr Bailey. “These were white kids handing black kids the brick to throw. These were black kids handing white kids the petrol bomb. It was them holding hands to storm police barriers.
“In August 2011, teenagers put aside any other rivalries and united to fight the biggest enemy of all — authority. Challenging that is a rite of passage,” he says, “and has been for decades”.
But there is something different this time, adds Mr Bailey. This week’s riots were “unprecedented” not in the level of violence or length of time that they lasted, but in the quick and random way they spread across the country.
“Who would have thought that a peaceful protest in Tottenham would have resulted in riots in Birmingham and Manchester,” he says. Mr Bailey thinks he understands why.
“We spent the last 20 years convincing our youth that their opinions matter more than anyone else’s, that they are untouchable. We constantly talk to them about their rights, not their responsibilities.”
And that same attitude pervades wider society, he adds. Mr Bailey takes four issues in particular — welfare, justice, housing and parenting.
He doesn’t want to see benefits taken away from people — but more thought into who gets them and why.
As for justice – he talks of a “carousel” in which young people are thrown into jail, turned from petty to hardened criminals, and then released to teach others what they have learned.
“We have the biggest child prison population in Europe bar none. But we warehouse them.” Instead he would turn prisons into giant education centres, reducing sentences for those who comply.
As for the police he praises the fact that they have turned from a “force” to a “service” that thinks twice about attacking the public. But he says it has gone too far with officers being expected to act as “social workers”.
The fact that riot police stood back as the looting continued made teenagers feel invincible, he says.
As for the question of housing, Mr Bailey is scathing about sprawling council estates, which he says split communities because the middle classes refuse to live on them and eventually they become “dens”. Town planning should be based around roads, encouraging families of different social backgrounds to live side-by-side.
And for for parenting, he argues, “we’ve nationalised child-raising”. “People think that the Government is responsible for their children — that weakens the family structure. One of the worst things as a parent is having nothing to teach your children; one of the worst things as a child is to believe that authority lies outside your parents.”
Mr Bailey thinks school pupils should be taught about parenting from an early age, with teachers making very clear that being pregnant as a teenager is a bad thing.
“Young people make terrible parents because they are not meant to be parents, they are meant to be concentrating on their own development.”
He would also change the relationship between schools and parents, allowing teachers to demand more from families.
Another thing he would do is lift the legal age of criminal responsibility from 10. Mr Bailey argues that it creates a culture in which very young children are seen as responsible for their wrongdoing instead of their parents. “Currently in this country there is no shame, no stigma, no concern about having a child who is wayward. I would make sure that parents are held accountable for a lot longer. There would be very few circumstances in which your child is in trouble and you are not in it with them.”
Mr Bailey says that it is pointless attacking teenagers for this week’s violence. “They behave the way they do because we have told them they can. So that is a failing on our part not theirs.”
He is most passionate when attacking what he calls a “victim” culture, in which social background is constantly given as an excuse for bad behaviour. Mr Bailey thinks everyone should aspire to be better.
As for global consumerism that may be irreversible. But it is always possible to protect children, and teach them that experiences are more important than things. Perhaps then they will watch MTV Cribs with a bit of bemusement instead of a burning desire.