Sure the crime was only the theft of a mobile phone but the impact it had was far more-wide reaching than you may imagine.

Orange is a fantastic place to live and there are so many wonderful people who live here.

As a journalist you meet so many diverse people and in the most part these people are warm, generous and respectful.

However after discovering those responsible for the theft of my mobile phone were young children I felt overcome with a real feeling of sadness.

These children claimed the phone as their own and thanks to the device's tracking ability I was able to see that they had quickly rode their bikes from Summer Street to Spring Street and removed the phone's sim card.

Under instruction from the police we walked around Spring Street and the surrounding area to no avail.

As parents it's our responsibility to teach children right from wrong and to ensure we know where they are at all times, and who they are spending their time with.

A simple walk around the CBD will prove that there are far too many children who are living a life completely independent from the adults in their lives.

If we value security, safety and peace of mind surely we need to pressure parents and caregivers to do the right thing and ensure they see raising children as the import job it truly is.

How we do the is the million-dollar question.