Why did children report their parents to the secret police?

Under Bolshevik led Russia, children who reported their parents were rewarded as heroes of the state and given rewards. Sometimes, in the years of state imposed famine, children would denounce their parents for food either because it was given to them by the government or because, with the parents now gone, they could do what they wanted to do.

After the October Revolution when Lenin and the Bolsheviks took control of Russia, they placed emphasis on the importance of the state and practically destroyed the concept of family. They felt that family members who had allegiance to one another did not have the proper allegiance to the state. Children were encouraged to denounce their parents for any inkling of counter-revolutionary thought.