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Parents' Legal Obligation To Their Children

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Can you sue your parents for not loving you enough?

A homeless man in Brooklyn recently sued his parents - for not loving him well enough. He claims that he is homeless and unemployed because they did not provide him enough affection during his childhood.

Parents everywhere are groaning: do you know how hard to love you were, when you were a teenager? Is there a law about that?

By law, parents must provide food, shelter, and safety. And there are laws against child abuse. But protection from physical danger is not the only legal requirement. Parents must also ensure their children go to school. They also have an obligation not to expose them to certain things that are not good for children like supplying children with drugs, alcohol, or sex - which would be the crime of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, defined as any behavior that tends to lead a minor down a path towards criminality, truancy from school, or becoming a dependant of the juvenile court.

That said, while there's no law that mandates you to love your kid, remember that though they're teenagers now, they're the ones who will be picking your old age home so tone it down with the yelling, and throw in a couple of "I love you"s now and then.

As for the unemployed Brooklyn man, I think he has a good future as a lawyer.

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