the boy's property is taken from him and he is deprived of its use as a
means of punishment for some breach of home discipline. In many families
the boy grows up altogether without any adequate idea of what the right
of private property really is, with the result that when he reaches the
adolescent years and is swayed by the gang spirit, whatever comes in his
way, as one of the gang, is appropriated by him to the gang use. This
means that the boy, because of his ignorance, becomes a ward of the
Juvenile Court and a breaker of community laws. The tendency, however,
today in legal procedure is to hold the parents of such a boy liable for
the offenses which may be committed. Instead of talking about juvenile
delinquency today we are beginning to comprehend the larger meaning of
parental and community delinquency. Out of nearly six hundred cases
which came before the Juvenile Court in San Francisco last year only
nineteen, by the testimony of the judge, were due to delinquency on the
part of the offender himself. The majority of the remaining cases were
due to parental delinquency, or neglect of the father and mother. A
real part in the home life may be given to the boy by recognizing his
individual and sole claim to certain things in the home life.

Failure on the part of the father and mother to recognize the growth of
the boy likewise tends to interfere with normal relationships in the
home. Many a father and mother fail to see and appreciate the fact that
their boy really ceases to be a child. Because of this, parents very
often fail to show the proper respect for the personality of the boy,
riding rough-shod over his feelings and will. There follows in matters
of this kind a natural resentment on the part of the boy which sometimes
makes him moody and reticent. This, in its turn, causes the parents to
try to curb what they consider a disagreeable disposition on the part of
the boy. Sometimes this takes the form of resentment at the fact that
the boy wishes at times to be alone, and so fathers and mothers are