Time to act! Pastor says there is need for strategic parenting

OCHO RIOS, St Ann:

PASTOR AT the Northgate Centre for Global Impact in Ocho Rios, Wesley Boynes, has said there is a need for strategic parenting, as a lack of this has been a roadblock to genuine national development.

Drawing reference to recent developments where several lawyers have been charged with fraud, Pastor Boynes said "the parents and other mentors who have the responsibility of bringing up these individuals are not paying any attention to the development of their character".

"To make matters worse," he argued, "the educational process places a heavy emphasis on certification as opposed to character development."

This, he said, has resulted in Jamaica failing to produce the internal quality of people needed to build a strong nation.

He continued: "For some reason, whenever persons among us have acquired a degree in law or other professions like medicine, science, etc., we the society, then proceed to hold them on a very high pedestal of moral expectations and conduct, which, in my view, is not only very unreasonable, but also ill-advised, misleading and totally wrong in many instances.

"The acquisition of a degree in law or in any other profession does not in any way or fashion equip anyone with special moral fortitude or ethical capacity. Persons with these degrees are automatically entrusted to do the right thing at all times, and are usually fast-tracked into leadership and influential positions within organisations, including political parties and churches.

proper scrutinising

"Usually, this occurs without due diligence, proper scrutinising, and testing of their character and core values."

Boynes suggested that we need to examine how such persons were brought up and parented in the first place.

"In many instances, they were told to try and become a lawyer or a doctor since 'you can mek a whole heap a money'."

Boynes said this way of thinking would have been drilled into them from childhood and not much would have been said to them in terms of how many disadvantaged persons they can assist, or even the importance of having a great character as the foundation for a truly successful professional career.

"In other words, it is not so much their fault," he argues.

But there is hope.

"The issue can only be resolved by a genuine and honest revisiting of our education system in which these professionals were trained and developed."

"Apart from a serious effort to institute values-based education as the foundation of the educational processes in Jamaica, there is a need for an unrelenting focus on the acquisition and honing of strategic parenting skills in the nation.

"The number-one objective of strategic parenting is to deliberately impart specific values and principles to the children in our care."

Parents, however, are so busy trying to make ends meet, that there is no time to reinforce these guidelines to successful living.

But according to Boynes, "It is time to act because the future of the nation is at stake. If not now, when? If not us, then who?"

familyandreligion@gleanerjm.com