The Committee has found a strong public demand that contraceptives should not be allowed to get into the hands of children and adolescents.  Whatever views may be held concerning the use of contraceptives by older people (married or unmarried) no responsible father or mother would countenance their possession by their young sons and daughters.

The Committee is unanimous that adolescents should not buy or have contraceptives in their possession.

=(2) The Broadening of the Divorce Laws=

The subject of divorce was very fully discussed in the Houses of Parliament in England, in New Zealand, and elsewhere after the First World War.

If parents are unable to live happy lives together or to become reconciled after differences have arisen, the interests of the children may be improved, or may be worsened, by a legal separation or a divorce.  Tension in the home may be just as big a factor in the causation of delinquency as a divorce or separation of the spouses.

Juvenile delinquency in all its forms is frequently associated with homes where the marriage is broken either by a divorce, separation, or discord.  It is not so much the separation as the tension which precedes and succeeds it that results in children getting out of control.

The matter is noted here solely because, if parents cannot agree together, they are less likely to discharge their duties to their children.  Greater is the responsibility which rests upon them in these unhappy circumstances.  If parents are unwilling to shoulder the extra burden caused by the break-down of their marriage, some action by the State may be required if it seems likely that children may suffer.

=(3) Pre-marital Relations=

One aspect of the moral drift is the number of people who entertain the nebulous idea that it is somehow not wrong to have pre-marital relations or to live together as man and wife without marriage.

Such a view is opposed to all the ideas of chastity which are inherent in our morality.  Apart from that, an irregular sex relationship may be psychologically[6] disadvantageous.

However much adults may desire a good moral standard to be observed by children and adolescents, they have no right to expect it unless they conform to proper moral standards themselves.

=(4) “Self-expression” in Children=

Early in this century psychologists said that the repressive influences of early discipline were stultifying to the development of the child.  They advocated that the child’s personality would mature better if uninhibited.  This has been interpreted by many people to mean that you should not use corrective measures in the upbringing of children and that their natural impulses must not be suppressed.  Some of these people have even thought it wrong to say “No” to a child.

People brought up in this way have now become parents.  It is difficult for them to adopt an attitude to their children which does not go to extremes either way.  As a revolt against their own upbringing, they are either too firm in their control or too lax.  Children brought up in both of these ways have been featured in the case notes of delinquent children placed before the Committee.