Having lived in New York for over 20 years before moving to Canada, I can tell you that children (6 to 16) have no concept of cost or the value of money.
Hitting the parents in the wallet is a positive step, but instead of getting a smack on the arse, these vandals get a good "talking too" and a "time out"!
Community service is the ONLY solution for young offenders that get's the message across. 100 hours of picking up paper, reading to senior citizens, sweeping sport facilities and the like takes them away from their computers, hand held games and a spray can!!
In my day, we did not have "time out" for bad behavior, it was called "knock out" !!!
Charles
