In Reply to: Depends on posted by cfb on Thursday, 6. October 2011 at 22:44 Bali Time:
People can be as self righteous as they like and claim it is all to do with upbringing but that is total and utter BS. My parents were hard working people who instilled good values and dicipline in my brother and I. They promoted family values and right from wrong. We spent quality family time together, were never spoilt, didnt live an excessive lifestyle, had chores to do and learnt the value of a dollar and my parents loved us very much.
Yet we still smoked pot, tried alcohol, smoked cigarettes.... If a teenager wants to do something. They will find a way to do it without the knowledge or consent of their parents.
At 14 years of age like it or not as sherbet said they are simply not developed enough to handle certain situations or the type of pressure that can exist from people such as the balinese hawkers/beggars these people exist on a day to day basis to get what they want out of tourists and therefore have a through knowledge of who to target and exploit to get what they need hence why they tend to target specific types for specific items I am ofcourse refering to the people selling illegal items not the normal everyday joe simply trying to sell their wares.
I think it is throughly unfair to claim that its a matter of upbringing cause even children with the best possible upbringing with both values and environment go off the rails. The fact is you can try and teach a child to "think logically and like and adult" from an early age" but when its all said and done if the physiological development is not there it isnt going to happen and all those people who say "my children would never have done this cause I taught them differently" are just wearing rose coloured glasses. You dont know what your children would do given the right set of circumstances or when your not their to guide them.