Can you believe it?

You have to wonder what planet people are on sometimes.

I have always been under the impression that children are very largely shaped by their parents. In other words, children are the products, not solely, but very largely of the way their parents brought them up - the values they taught them, the behaviours they modelled, the cultural values they transmitted, the language the used, and so on.

Apparently I'm wrong. It's not the first time, and it won't be the last time, but this time I'm surprised at how wrong I am.

You see a lawyer (obviously a far more clever and better-informed person than me) says "These parents are unfortunate to have children with bad attitudes. It is not the fault of these mothers and it makes no sense for them to be punished."

He gave voice this stunning revelation in the course of a recent court case in Napier District Court.

It involved three "mothers to be charged with failing to ensure [their children] attended classes." The lawyer's inspired defense is that "it is not the parents' fault, but the children's attitude that is the problem."

I wait to hear how this turkey thinks they came by this 'attitude'.

If you want to get hold of this clearly creative and innovative thinker, you can find him at Napier Law, who have premises at Ocean Boulevard 131 Emerson St Napier, phone +64 6-835 7519.