I came home yesterday to find my 11 year old reading about gangs. Admittedly, I was a little taken aback to find that my would give such mature reading material. When I asked her why she did, she replied, “He’s going into middle school next year, he needs to know what to expect.” After a little thinking I agreed.
I took it upon myself to read the book, entitled “Gangs” as well to get a better perspective as to why so many youths find this an attractive lifestyle. There is no one particular reason that youths join gangs. However, the author states that in his research he found that the most common factor was an unstable family environment. Gangs seem to serve as a sort of surrogate family, creating some sense of belonging.
These statements were confirmed when conducting an interview with a teenage member of the Los Angeles gang,“The Bloods” when asked why he chose to join a gang his response was, “My dad…I don’t see him that much. Probably if he was around I would not have joined the Bloods… When I first joined I was looking at it like another family.” Los Angeles Daily News
It is just sad to know that this is the plight of many of the kids that my son is attending school with. I know its cliché, but taking the time to your kids and making them aware of what’s going on around them is the best prevention. After all, an informed decision is the best decision.
· Teens in a single parent environment are 2.4 times more likely to become gang affiliated than most other teens
· Teens that have an adult other than their parents in the home are 3 times more likely to join a gang than other teens
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