Legal Definitions - control-your-kid law

The term "control-your-kid law" is an informal way to refer to a parental-responsibility statute. These are laws that hold parents or legal guardians accountable, either financially or sometimes legally, for certain actions or damages caused by their minor children.

The specific scope of parental-responsibility statutes varies by jurisdiction, but they generally aim to encourage parents to supervise their children and prevent them from engaging in harmful or unlawful behavior. This accountability can include financial liability for property damage, theft, or personal injury caused by a minor, and in some cases, fines or other penalties.

Here are some examples illustrating how a parental-responsibility statute might apply:

• Example 1: Vandalism
  Imagine a 15-year-old spray-paints graffiti on the side of a local community center, causing several thousand dollars in damage. Under a parental-responsibility statute, the community center could pursue legal action against the teenager's parents to recover the costs of cleaning and repairing the damage. This illustrates how parents can be held financially liable for their child's destructive acts.
• Example 2: Shoplifting
  A 12-year-old is caught shoplifting electronics from a department store. While the child might face juvenile consequences, a parental-responsibility statute could allow the store to sue the child's parents to recover the value of the stolen merchandise, or for any associated costs like security expenses or legal fees. This demonstrates parental accountability for a child's theft.
• Example 3: Negligent Injury
  Consider a situation where a 10-year-old, while playing unsupervised, carelessly leaves a garden hose stretched across a public sidewalk, causing a pedestrian to trip and suffer a broken wrist. The injured pedestrian could invoke a parental-responsibility statute to seek compensation from the child's parents for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, arguing that the parents failed to adequately supervise their child and prevent a foreseeable hazard.