Caregivers Urged To Teach Children About Peace

Parents and caregivers are encouraged to teach moral principles to their children to better aid them in making positive decisions when involved in conflicts during adulthood.

Making the call is Children’s Advocate, Diahann Gordon Harrison, who told JIS News that caregivers should not normalise violent annotations and actions in the culture of their home.

“It’s no longer important to [focus only on] their right to education. We need to diversify and ensure that we’re focusing on all the different aspects of development at the very early stages,” she commented.

“We need to realise that the culture of violence in our words and the culture of violence in how we respond send a subliminal message, especially when that culture is normalised,” she continued.

She cautions that the mishandling of conflicts may also place the child in danger.

“We can’t take anything for granted. It may mean sometimes that you have to move your children away from the conflict because you never know when somebody will decide to use your children to ‘send a message’,” she advised.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) continues to dispense advice to persons who are in “less than suitable circumstances,” according to Mrs. Gordon Harrison.

She said this includes referring women who are victims of domestic violence to support groups, in consultation with the OCA legal department.

“For the children, they would also be a part of the process. Once we’re doing an assessment and we see that there is a particular need, we are guided by the ‘best interest’ principle, and that determines what we do after assessing the situation on a case-by-case basis,” she stated.