BY ALICIA SUTHERLAND

Observer staff reporter

sutherlanda@jamaicaobserver.com

PORUS, Manchester — Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon-Harrison says parental neglect is seriously hindering Jamaica’s progress as a nation.

Gordon-Harrison told parents at a recent seminar organised by the 13-year-old Parenting Club at Porus Primary School in south-east Manchester that if parenting is done well, solutions to many of the country’s problems could be more easily found.

However, she lamented that every year there were thousands of reports of serious parental neglect.

“In 2012 alone we had 4,428 parents who were reported as neglecting their children — not giving them food, not providing for their education, not sending them to school, if the child is sick, not getting medical attention.

“For that same period of 2012 we had 3,040 cases in which parents were said not to be caring and protecting their children as they should. They weren’t supervising them, their children weren’t coming home after school, their boys were in gangs, their girls were on the street, the adults in their community were having sexual relations with their children and they didn’t care,” said Gordon-Harrison.

She argued that Jamaicans needed to recognise that children should be brought up properly in order to become well adjusted adults able to make a positive contribution to society.

“We need to connect the dots … wake up and realise that if we don’t get it right with our children then we are all hypocrites if we say Jamaica is in a bad place…,” she said.

The children’s advocate told members of the Porus Parenting Club that their role as parents was not only a legal obligation but also a moral one. She lauded the group for taking the initiative to improve themselves as parents and staying the course. She encouraged them to spread the word to other parents who were not as diligent.

“From where I sit it is very clear, and I am sure all of you can identify, that the time has come for us to move for social re-engineering in Jamaica. We need to begin with the very babies…,” she said.

Gordon-Harrison also spoke out strongly on the negative effects of beating children as a form of discipline. She claimed that even though corporal punishment for children is like a “second religion” in Jamaica, it can have serious effects and send the wrong message.

“If we force our will upon children by beating them we are sending a subtle message that it’s ok to do that. It tells them in a very subliminal way that violence is a good way to get people to do what you want them to do if they are not listening to you,” the children’s advocate said.

“Let us brainwash them (children) with positivity and a sense of what is right,” she said.

She noted that “the family continues to be the central and most important agent of socialisation for our children”.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) for Area 3 Derrick Knight said parents should make sacrifices for their children without necessarily seeing the investment as pension for their old age.

“Despite the significant reduction generally in crime it is still far too high. If you don’t guide your children they will take the short cut. Short cut in most cases is the wrong way,” he said.