PM Asks Church to Help With Improving Parenting Skills

Prime Minister Bruce Golding said he will be inviting representatives of the religious community to work with the government early in the New Year to formulate a programme that would help to improve parenting skills and standards across the country and lead to the restoration of values and positive attitudes, especially among youth.
Mr. Golding’s comments were made on Thursday (Dec. 20) at a meeting with members of the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast Committee at Jamaica House, on the anniversary of his first one hundred days as Prime Minister of Jamaica. The national prayer breakfast is scheduled for January 17 and will be held under the theme ‘Renewing our Commitment’.
The Prime Minister said the theme could form the basis for a broader platform to incorporate matters relating to values and attitudes in which parenting would play a key role. He expressed concern that lack of proper parenting skills was one of the factors holding back many Jamaican youth and is the root cause of anti-social behaviour displayed by our youth.
He pointed to the initiative by the Minister of Education to set up a parenting commission as a step in the right direction, adding that work in this area would help to ensure that succeeding generations would have an understanding of what is right from wrong. He said the involvement of civil society was also important in order to achieve widespread support.
Some 470 persons are expected to attend the prayer breakfast including leaders of government, the judiciary, corporate Jamaica, civil society and members of the public. Proceeds from the event will benefit the convalescence home in Black River for police officers.