Two stories published in this week's Sunday Observer have given us cause for grave concern.

The first highlights the growing number of high school students who are cutting themselves, while the second unearths a worrying trend of sexual activity among basic school children.

In the case of the "cutters", as they are called, a mock survey conducted at several high schools showed that for the most part, the student population was familiar with the phenomenon of self-mutilation.

According to Ms Rose Robinson-Hall, the project co-ordinator for the Child Abuse Mitigation Project at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, the practice of cutting could be a feature of the adolescent period during which children, apparently unable to deal with a number of stressful issues in their lives, "experience role confusion" and, therefore, "they experiment".

But she was very clear that the problem could be the result of any of a number of factors. Therefore, it was important that parents and teachers try to ascertain the cause of the behaviour.

Quite correctly, Ms Robinson-Hall recommends the services of a trained psychiatrist or psychologist who will likely be able to shed some light on the underlying causes of this potentially dangerous practice.

While we agree with her prescription, we also believe that parents hold the greater responsibility for ensuring that their children do not become mired in this or any other deviant behaviour.

Too often do we see parents - wittingly or unwittingly - abdicating their roles as moulders of human character, leaving their children to the mercy of the streets or the influence of people who might not have their best interest at heart.

Last week, we suggested that parents need to realise that financial security alone is not enough to endow children with the depth of character and self-esteem necessary for them to function as responsible citizens.

We reiterate that there is no substitute for the time and attention that all children crave from their parents, many of whom need to learn how best to balance their time between their financial and domestic responsibilities.

Which brings us to the deeper issue raised in the second story - that of really poor parenting. For there is, we believe, no other label for the mother who, after her daughter was caught performing oral sex on a boy in her basic school class, told the principal: "I didn't know that she was watching those videos because she was supposed to have been in bed."

This mother's response betrays a certain looseness in how she supervises her child, and we are left to wonder what else this little girl's young, fertile mind has been poisoned with.

Sadly, as the story relates, this behaviour is not unique to one basic school, because, according to the Ministry of Health, they get up to three requests every month from basic school principals for them to give sex education talks at their schools, mainly because of the number of infants who are caught engaging in sexual activity at school.

We have no doubt that the spread of cable television has influenced behavioural change here, particularly among young people. And even though the authorities have introduced regulation in an effort to lessen the impact of cable and free-to-air television on lifestyles, we all need to accept that really, good parenting is the foundation of the ideal we seek.

Mothers can't father

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'