Children Are Their Oppressors

“Baseball bat-wielding gangs of children are mugging mothers and nannies on the school run in the latest crime wave to hit San Francisco” (The Telegraph, July 4, 2023). The city experienced 11 robberies amongst moms and nannies in just one week. Police believe it is the same gang of young boys who are “targeting women picking up children from school.” One mom was thrown to the ground by a boy who took her cell phone. Another was punched in the face.

One San Francisco Board of Supervisors member observed that more and more children are “doing these really awful things.” He speculated the crimes are happening because children are skipping school, a trend of truancy he blames on the COVID lockdowns. Crime is escalating all over San Francisco and that seems to coincide with a lack of police involvement or interest.

The prophet Isaiah warned of specific events that would occur in Israelite-descended nations at the end of the age. Around 2,700 years ago, he wrote, “As for My people, children are their oppressors” (Isaiah 3:12), and “the child will be insolent toward the elder” (v. 5). Solomon wrote in Proverbs 29:15 that “a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.” Children need present and engaged parents to teach them right and wrong—they will not develop a right sense of what is moral and good on their own. Today, for a variety of reasons, parents are often insufficiently involved in their children’s lives, and sometimes simply do not care. Isaiah notes that these things will happen “because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord” (3:8). Every human being needs right teaching and loving guidance from the earliest moments of life. At His return, Jesus Christ will bring an approach to family life and child-rearing that will make that teaching and guidance a reality. To learn more about how to raise loving and respectful children, read or listen to Successful Parenting: God’s Way.