Parents have to step up
Parents who have failed to seek help for children who are exhibiting violent behaviour, need to also be held accountable for their children’s actions.
That’s the view of Shone Gibbs, President of the Barbados National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations (BNCPTA). He raised the issue in an interview with The Barbados Advocate yesterday afternoon, following the morning session of a seminar entitled ‘Parenting in the 21st Century: Discipline as an Avenue for Success’ hosted by the BNCPTA and the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation at the Springer Memorial Secondary School.
“I have said this before and I will say this again, there are enough social institutions to assist parents with what may be perceived as problem children or children who are challenged. But I am sure that most of those agencies would tell you that they are not being engaged at the level where a parent comes and says, ‘I have this problem,’” he said.
Gibbs added, “If you have a child that has a problem, it is your responsibility as a parent to seek a resolution and intervention for the child. If you have not done that and the child comes before the court system at that level of criminality, you should be asked to stand with the child on that charge.”
The BNCPTA official suggested that the only way a parent should not be charged, is if there is evidence that they would have sought intervention by way of agencies such as PAREDOS, the Child Care Board, the Juvenile Liaison Scheme, or even the church. He explained that once they have discharged their responsibility, then efforts can be made to work with them and the children to restore them and “realign them with vision and purpose”.
“But that is what we are not seeing here. Instead, we are seeing neglect of our children at a different level, where they are left to be parented by technology, by the community, by the boys on the block and such like. Some parents are not stepping up to the plate and this is where we need to institute legislation and make parents responsible and accountable for children who are of school age,” he said.
Weighing in on the recent violent acts being perpetrated by students, he is adamant that all is not lost, and contended that the situation has not gotten completely out of hand. In fact, he said it is still a case of a minority colouring the entire system as bad.
Gibbs went on to say that while it may appear that violence within schools is getting worse, this may not necessarily be the situation, rather it may be a case that there is heightened awareness due to the use of technology and social media.
“The use of technology makes every story [and] every episode go viral, but what we’re seeing in schools is a problem that has long existed and has not been addressed effectively before. Just this morning I was listening intently to a calypso by T.C., that pretty much chronicled the behaviour of the children, the involvement of the parents and even to the extent that a then Minister of Education had suggested that we search the bags of our children as they enter school. I think the music is over a decade old, so the problems are the same, but because of technology it has gone viral,” he explained.
With that in mind, the BNCPTA head contends that the issue must be dealt with once and for all.
“We need to ensure that we do everything to prevent an issue like this where a person is beaten so badly, to the extent that we have to imprison school aged children. I think the home-school relationship comes into play here, but also the whole issue of policy and legislation that pertains to child rearing and parenting,” he added. (JRT)