Transmitting values to our kids

In recent weeks, there have been articles and letters calling for parental responsibility for child safety in locked cars, in monitoring daycare centers, etc., and “Absolved from charges but not societal scorn” (August 2) highlights another area that bears examination: a child’s moral and ethical development.

This could start as early as elementary school, where children should understand the importance of the learning environment and respect for teachers, to the inhumanity of bullying, and continue to the question at hand, the respect for both the opposite sex and for themselves in terms of their emotional and social maturation.

The donning of kipot by some of the newly released Israeli boys accused of sexual assault during questionable sexual activities in Cyprus, is an oxymoron, since Jewish philosophy emphasizes the sanctity of the relationship between man and woman, husband and wife.

It is understandable that the parents of these young boys were happy to see them at the airport, but where were the parents when their children flew out of the same airport weeks before? What questions did they ask of their children and what guidelines did they offer then? It is up to parents, who represent the values of society, to model the behavior they would like to see of their progeny, and it is the responsibility of society to transmit its values to the young in all situations.

MARION REISS Beit Shemesh

While Israeli youth were giving the police in Cyprus extra work and the newspapers something to write about, it should be noted that other Israeli youth were competing with success in the European Junior Swimming Championships and the European Junior Athletics Championships, winning medals – including gold medals!

Unfortunately, it was the Israeli youth in Cyprus who received the “publicity.”

JEFF GEFFEN Ashdod