Parents should do a better job in raising their children to regard violence as unacceptable, home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk says in Thursday’s Telegraaf.

Parents are failing to do their job, leading to a lack of respect and increased verbal and physical violence directed at emergency service workers, civil servants and other officials, Plasterk told the paper.
The increased use of fast track trials and higher sentences to deal with offenders is only treating the symptoms, Plasterk said. Such measures are useless if children are not brought up properly.
‘The basis is what everyone learns at home. And, if that is done properly, the lesson should be ‘behave yourself’,’ the minister is quoted as saying.
His comments were made in anticipation of a new report on violence against civil servants.
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