There are three types of kids who kill their parents

Most killer children are likely to be those in their teenage years and above, as pre-teens can hardy understand the concept of death, according to an article Why Kids Kill Parents, which was published in Psychology Today in December 2012.

Kids who kill their parents are likely to be male. They are mostly into drugs and need money. Their motivation is a belief that they “are neglected and abused children whose options are limited and they think they have no other way out.”

Teenagers are more likely to kill in a turbulent madness of adolescence when they run up “against constraints they perceive have been placed upon them in a setting of limited alternatives” or when they feel that “conditions in the home are intolerable.”

There are three types of individuals who commit parricide. One is the severely abused child who is pushed beyond his or her limits. Another is the severely mentally ill child. And the third is the dangerously antisocial child.

The Psychology Today article noted that, “Six adolescents who fit the profile of the severely abused child had approached life fairly passively until the homicide” and in the four cases where only the abusive father was killed, the mother was not living at home at nthe time.”

Speaking to The Nairobian, sociologist Ken Ouko says that familial democracy is on the increase. “Kids have been taught and allowed to question their parents, a sharp contrast to what happened in the past. Nowadays, children even decide which school they want to go to. They also believe they are entitled to their parents’ money.

Kids see their parents as obstacles to a good life,” he explained. Ouko says that parental duty and values has been diluted. “The respect is not there. Fathers will go out with their gacungwas who are their sons’ age,” he said.