Don’t Give Our Kids Zero Chance

* The reason that children are alienated and angry is the “zero tolerance” mantra enforced in our schools.

Zero tolerance is an unreasonable standard that few adults could tolerate. Why do we expect our children to be mistake-free? Were we?

How many of us never drank a beer, smoked a cigarette or even a joint in our teens?

If you expel a student for drinking a beer, what do you do when they hit a teacher or bring a real gun to school? We need rules that punish repeated bad behavior with ever-increasing punishment.

Teens today live under constant threat of lockers being searched, licenses being taken away or expulsion for what were minor offenses years ago.

It must be hard for them to understand why they are being forced to be perfect, especially by parents who grew up in the ‘60s or ‘70s.

There are no little mistakes anymore; therefore there isn’t any way for kids to vent their anger or frustrations. Let’s show our love as parents by giving kids the respect and space they deserve.

We need to stay close and pick them up when they fail, but only after they fail. Then they will grow up to be able to deal with the larger and more complex sets of adult problems.

CLEM DOMINGUEZ

Huntington Beach