Respect due to all good parents
Dear Editor,
The month of November is recognised as National Parent Month and effective parenting is critical to raising disciplined children.
As an educator and a parent myself, I am deeply concerned about the erosion of discipline and good conduct among the student population in Jamaica, which I believe is attributable to the lack of proper supervision and parental structures in the homes.
The home is the first school and better parenting practices are needed to curb the indiscipline and maladaptive behaviour of many of our children. I agree, in part, with Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s proposed plan to create legislation that will make parents suffer consequences when their children behave in violent and illegal ways. However, I don’t think we can legislate our way to achieving better values and attitudes as a society.
If people are not able to understand and accept the value of any given set of legislation and willingly conform, then what we will end up with is a situation in which the law lacks legitimacy. When this happens, the laws become almost impossible to enforce. There are many prime examples of cases in which the law lacks legitimacy, such as the no smoking in public and the anti-litter legislations. These laws were intended to solve the social problems which gave rise to them. However, policymakers now realise that legislation alone cannot change deviant behaviour.
I have no doubt in my mind that the vast majority of Jamaican parents are decent law-abiding citizens who want the best for their children and the society in which we live. However, too many of our parents lack the knowledge, skills, and commitment to be effective parents and there lies the elephant in the room.
I have always felt that the three main socialising agents, the home, the school, and the Church must complement each other to produce wholesome children. It is the home that forms us, the school informs us, and the Church transforms us. Parents are no longer taking their children to Sabbath and Sunday schools, and there are too many negative influences in the streets, before and after school hours.
It is not beyond us to find a workable mechanism to encourage and empower the home, the school, and the Church to work in tandem to rescue our children and save our society. Let us start by empowering ourselves as parents so that we can train our children in the way they should go so that when they become adults, like us, they will also be good parents.
Happy National Parent Month to all good parents in Jamaica.
Andre’ A O Wellington
Dean of Discipline
Alston High School
andrewellington344@yahoo.com