Government Senator Larry Mussenden has appealed to the Island?s parents to ?get back to discipline? to combat the problems with violence among Bermuda?s youth.

?As far as the violence is concerned it appears that it is a lot of young people fighting against each other so we have to appeal to parents,? he said during the Senate debate on the Throne Speech.

The Senator and Bermuda Football Association president said that what he was hearing from the street was that the youth in Bermuda were fighting one another.

But if they were asked the reasons why they fight, he said they would not be able to explain.

?There are issues that are affecting our young people and they are bringing it to sports clubs or to other public events and are really shaming themselves,? he said.

He hoped that parents would keep tabs on their children, adding it was important to know whom they were mixing with.

?Often parents don?t know where their children are until they?ve been arrested,? he said.

The defence lawyer said sometimes he dreaded picking up the phone on Saturday or Sunday mornings because it regularly seemed to be parents looking for a lawyer because their child was in jail.

?I want to appeal to parents to get back to discipline.?

He also said that another solution would be getting the youth to talk to each other and that maybe all they needed was help to get them to a place where they could talk.