December 9, 2011Dear Sir,With regard to your article which was published on December 5, 2011, “How the Island’s children are affected by gun violence”, in my opinion, gun violence has affected young children tremendously. When a child has been exposed to certain environments, the psychological thing for them to do is to copy what they see. I feel that parents in this generation show a lack of discipline towards the children today. As I spoke to people of my grandparent’s and parent’s generation, they explained to me how gradually the violence has grown since they were young and I believe it’s partially the parents to blame. Although parents are not there every second of their child’s lives as they get older, it’s when they’re young that they should be constantly showing them the difference between right and wrong. The majority of the children today who are a part of gangs or in these criminal acts are the ones who have had a lack of attention from their parents, and therefore they are looking for it from their peers.The counsellor featured in the interview of the article is doing a very positive job at the school he is currently attending. However, I believe it would be an even more positive act towards children and parents, if there was an article dedicated to young people, stating ways to motivate parents to find encouraging ways to talk to their children about the violence in this day and age. Furthermore, I feel that all the counsellors at all primary schools should have sessions with the students about how they feel about gun violence; and look for enthusiastic ways to prevent them from entering gangs or being involved in criminal acts.CALSHAE MINORSSandys