Dear LPG,

I know that I live just outside the Borough of Lewisham but my concern stretches across all South London boroughs and is an issue that LPG readers should be airing their views on.

Two schoolboys from South Lanarkshire hid in a Sainsbury's superstore after closing time and allegedly helped themselves to £300 worth of food and drink.  The boys aged about 12, got themselves locked in deliberately at the Kingsgate Store in East Kilbride when it closed at 10pm on Monday 14th August by hiding in the clothing section.

They roamed for four hours before being discovered at 2am in the early morning by workers starting their shifts.  There was no mention of whether they had eaten throughout the ordeal and whether they consumed any alcohol.  Besides, they were left to their own devises unrestricted.  The children's parents were contacted and they were taken home.  I know if I were in that situation - a belt would be waiting for me.  The store, not best pleased, contacted the police.

This is just one story which brings to the fore the effect that the government’s progression of laws which limit the control parents have over their children has produced.  I am the product of a generation where children were seen and not heard, and where children were administered a degree of physical punishments, both at school and at home, and I believe that I am a better person for the experience.  I will agree that the stories we have heard about children being locked in cellars and beaten to the point where they have died are frightening, but the parents who are going to do things like this will do them in spite of any law that is in place. 

I feel that children are not being, and have not been, taught a respect for rules and other people and I am not sure that if such restricting laws prohibiting corporal punishment for children were not in place, those atrocities would still occur.

There is a need for limits but our children need to again see their parents and teachers as guardians, mentors and people who have put rules in place to protect them regardless of if they are boys or girls.

Perhaps it is up to us to pass this information on to our children so that the message can filter through the generations and produce more responsible young girls and boys for the future. 

GM, Peckham