{"id":25413,"date":"2012-09-10T07:55:02","date_gmt":"2012-09-10T11:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=25413"},"modified":"2012-09-10T07:55:02","modified_gmt":"2012-09-10T11:55:02","slug":"stronger-family-structure-vital-to-correcting-societal-ills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2012\/09\/stronger-family-structure-vital-to-correcting-societal-ills","title":{"rendered":"Stronger Family Structure Vital To Correcting Societal Ills"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Melanie S. Griffin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASSAU, The Bahamas \u2014 The lack of the \u201cproper socialisation\u201d of Bahamian children by their parents will continue to lead to the long-term detriment of those children if those trends are not reversed, Minister of Social Services Melanie S. Griffin said Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a national tragedy that so many Bahamian children do not seem to know the basics of good manners, yet they are fully versed in some of the most foul language imaginable,\u201d Mrs. Griffin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis lack of socialisation takes (on) many forms, most of which are detrimental to the long-term success of the child (as) a child who lacks manners is ignorant of the basic social graces, difficult to teach, and therefore hard to employ later in life,\u201d Mrs. Griffin added.<\/p>\n

Addressing an Appreciation Day Reception for 45 Facilitators of the National Parenting Programme, Mrs. Griffin thanked the Facilitators for the work they have done in making the programme \u201ca huge success\u201d since its establishment in 1994.<\/p>\n

More than one thousand parents have participated in the Parenting Programme over the past year, alone. Social Services officials say the National Parenting Programme has had a positive impact on helping to reverse the trends associated with the lack of proper socialisation by addressing a number of key areas.<\/p>\n

Facilitators for the Programme are experts from a cross-section of professions in the public and private sectors including the clergy, education, social work, medical and healthcare professionals, counselling, law enforcement and the banking industry, among others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Programme cannot be successful without the facilitators,\u201d Mrs. Griffin said. \u201cWe are thankful that they have made the commitment to be in partnership with the Ministry of Social Services\u2019 National Parenting Programme and to provide information from their respective areas of expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Griffin urged the facilitators to continue to teach the participants, many of whom are young, single parents, the value of \u201cbasic social graces\u201d, among the many lessons included on the curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease ensure that they understand the importance of teaching their children good manners. As a child growing up, I was often told that, \u2018good manners will take you far.\u2019 Sadly, I\u2019ve not heard that quote often from the newest generation of Bahamians. I firmly believe that it is time for that belief to make a return,\u201d Mrs. Griffin added.<\/p>\n

Minister Griffin said the National Parenting Programme is one of a number of tools the Government of The Bahamas, through the Ministry of Social Services and its agencies, will utilise to help strengthen the family structure within The Bahamas.<\/p>\n

The absence of the original family structure, she said, and that of the extended family structure, have contributed to much of the anti-social behaviour occurring in the country. Mrs. Griffin said the increasing number of single-parent homes and children being born to single mothers are among the major challenges impacting the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strengthening of the family structure is a part of a comprehensive national plan to battle the scourge of crime and criminality \u2014 particularly violent crimes such as murder within the Commonwealth of The Bahamas,\u201d Mrs. Griffin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDomestic violence, school violence, divorce, alcoholism, unemployment, murders, financial challenges are all indications of what is happening within our families and as we all know, as the family goes, so goes the nation,\u201d Mrs. Griffin added.
\n
\nBy Matt Maura
\nBahamas Information Services<\/p>\n

Caption: Minister of Social Services Melanie S. Griffin speaks during the Department of Rehabilitative\/ Welfare Services National Parenting Programme Facilitators Appreciation Day Thursday September 6, at the Abaco Markets Building, Thompson Boulevard. Mrs. Griffin said the National Parenting Programme is a vehicle that will assist Bahamian parents with the ‘proper socialisation’ of their children.\u00a0\u00a0 She says it will be expanded to include even more Bahamian parents. (BIS Photo\/Patrick Hanna)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe strengthening of the family structure is a part of a comprehensive national plan to battle the scourge of crime and criminality \u2014 particularly violent crimes,\u201d Mrs. Griffin said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[133,311,163,51],"class_list":["post-25413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-community","tag-family","tag-society","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}