Mercychen:
Yes. Because a badly behaved child is usually the outcome of failed parenting.
Even the Bible makes it clear when it says "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he grows up, he'll never depart from it."

When a child ( be it an adult or small child) turns out badly, it's because the parents did not guide them on the right path in life.

Most parents today just bear children but are never actively involved in their upbringing. They leave them to either house helps or grannies who are too weak to handle them properly. Worst still, they send them to boarding schools where they go and join other bad eggs from uncultured homes.

Now, how do you expect such a child to turn out well?

Parents take 90% of the blame or praise for how a child turns out in life.

perambulator:


if you raise a child well, there is only so much deviation that can occur. I have never seen anyone say he/she comes from a bad home or he /she wasnt raised right but many of them that we all say to ourselves privately this one wasnt raised well or does not come from a good home. If you are raised well you will always retrace your steps if you deviate or have boundaries.

chocboi78:
how would u explain a family of 4 well behaved children and one black sheep

Ndipe:
The mother of the notorious armed robber, Lawrence Anini, narrated to journalists the inhumane torture she endured by the policemen because of her son's atrocities probably to coerce her into revealing his whereabouts. Now, was it her fault that her son became a robber that she should be tortured?

bennybuhari:
Waoh...a 2013 post just made it to front page in 2022. There is hope for Nigeria

the answer is NO!

Should parents be held accountable for the bad actions of their adult children?

meobizy:
No. Every human has a compass for right and wrong no matter how ill behaved they are. Once your parents fail to lead you the right way and you pass a certain age, it is in the government’s hand to teach you the straight and narrow through places called prison.

Mercychen:
Yes. Because a badly behaved child is usually the outcome of failed parenting.
Even the Bible makes it clear when it says "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he grows up, he'll never depart from it."

When a child ( be it an adult or small child) turns out badly, it's because the parents did not guide them on the right path in life.
You are partly right,the environment has apart to play in a child's upbringing also.
Most parents today just bear children but are never actively involved in their upbringing. They leave them to either house helps or grannies who are too weak to handle them properly. Worst still, they send them to boarding schools where they go and join other bad eggs from uncultured homes.

Now, how do you expect such a child to turn out well?

Parents take 90% of the blame or praise for how a child turns out in life.

Any child above 18 is totally responsible for his or her own actions.

I know people who raised their kids properly, but they grew and transformed into something that's entirely different from what their parents envisioned. I can't blame their parents. They gave it their best. The blame is 100% on the so called child.

The parents cannot come and kill themselves.

The only time anyone can apportion any blame to the parents is when they didn't raise the child well in the first place. Like, encouraging the kids to bully others. Encouraging petty stealing, etc.

Ndipe:
It's very embarrassing for any law abiding parent to have a wayward child out of fear that their good name would be dragged in the mud by their actions. Back in Nigeria, the adult son of a high ranking church official was suspected of breaking into my alma mata's chapel and looting items, much to the consternation of my relatives, who wondered breathlessly, "What of his parents"? I simply brushed his involvement aside because of his notorious reputation on campus. It got so worse that according to one of my school mates, his father had threatened to disown him, much to his wife's chagrin (the guy's mom) who cried. Not long ago, a prominent man's daughter recently got a divorce and one of my friends said something to the effect that since her father holds a prominent position in the Church, then perhaps, he ought to have done something (I have forgotten exactly how he paraphrased it, but he sort of held her father accountable particularly since the girl gave birth while she was still a teenager. I disagreed with him.

And my question is this: Should parents be held accountable for the bad actions of their adult children?

Gloriagee:
No, except they failed while rearing the kids.

Cousin9999:


Some children are abused so badly that it affects their mental health and ability to function. Some are so haunted by abuse that they find it hard to function, and hard drugs are the only thing bringing them relief.

Some parents abuse their children in various ways that force them out on the street at a young age. These parents never gave these kids or young adults the skills, education, or resources to survive. And being so young, various people then take advantage of them. This makes a challenging situation far worse.

These people are failed not only by parents, but their country.

meobizy:
Yet thou shall not kill is an unwritten rule everybody knows. If their lives are so bad they’ll find redemption in prison.

Cousin9999:


That's true, but people living on the streets are regularly dealing with life or death situations. They have no protection. They may never desire in their life to hurt anyone, but their hand is forced. Bad parents can put people there.

meobizy:
So, we’ll go on a roundabout debate where you’ll claim bad parents while I claim prison will sort things out? I don’t have the time nor mental fortitude.

Cousin9999:


I get you.

However, prison is traumatic. And most prisons are designed to punish and exploit, not rehabilitate. People may also come out bigger criminals as a result of no resources after prison and forced criminal activity in prison. If they were already suffering before prison, it's likely to just make it worse. They may walk in clean, and leave with a drug problem (coping).