Parents are the people who bring the child into the world and have the responsibility to love and nurture them. If the parents themselves have poor attitudes and do not take up the responsibility of their child, critics assert that the child will grow up to be like them. However, an author by the name of Khaled Hosseini once said, “Children aren't colouring books. You don't get to fill them with your favourite colours.” This quote implies that parents do not affect the behaviour of their children as they have minds of their own. While the view of bad parenting resulting in bad children is popular, I believe that it is due to mental behaviours, visual media and peer pressure that the children turn out to be “bad”. Misbehaviour in children is associated with ineffective parenting. A study of 278 children conducted by the United Kingdom's Department of Education suggests that ineffective parenting can directly and indirectly influence antisocial behaviours, such as lying and stealing in children. Parents greatly affect their children’s behaviour as children model everything a parent does and incorporate what they see into their lives. Bad parenting thus contributes significantly to children’s behavioural outcomes. However, this does not mean that bad parenting is the sole blame for negative behaviour in children. Parents have limited power to influence their children. I contend that this view is ignorant as it does not take into account the other factors that result in bad behaviour in children, such as certain children being born with much less susceptibility to influence, as said by British child psychologist Dr Pat Spungin. Children whose behaviour is severely defiant may suffer from mental health issues such as bipolar disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or depression. This is due to genetic issues, environmental issues or a combination of both. Researchers at Oregon State University collected data f