Hanover custos blames deviant behaviour on poor parenting

Western Bureau:

In registering his disgust with the increasing number of students from the parish who are finding themselves behind bars for criminal activities, Hanover Custos Dr David Stair says poor parenting is to blame for their deviant behaviour, citing poor socialisation.

“The majority of the deviant behaviour that is being exhibited by the children now is due to poor parenting, because the kids are not being taught proper values at home, and if they are not taught proper values from earlier it becomes pointless,” Stair told The Gleaner.

Referencing a recent incident involving some students from Hopewell High School, who were caught on camera bullying and physically abusing another student, which resulted in them being arrested and charged, Stair said that while bullying is an international problem, he was extremely baffled as to why the students would want to video record and publicise their unlawful act.

“A lot of Jamaican communities have become violent, and a lot of things are happening in them, but I was under the impression that this type of behaviour is something that has not yet spread throughout all the rural areas, of which the parish of Hanover is one such rural community,” said Stair.

“I was hoping that we in the rural areas would have been left out of some of these types of things. Unfortunately, our children today have got themselves caught up with replicating what they see and hear daily,” said Stair, who bemoaned the fact that many youngsters do not visualise themselves living beyond the age of 30 years old.

Stair, who does not want the deviant behaviour to become normalised in Hanover, is adamant that a serious message needs to be sent to children and adults across the parish that bad behaviour will not be seen as acceptable and, like the case of the students who got arrested, will attract punishment.

“I think, as a society, we need to send the right messages to the youngsters to change behaviour, because if they realise that they will not get away with certain types of behaviour, that it is not the accepted norm, then they really would make some changes,” said Stair.

“We just have to set the right precedent and make them know what is accepted and what will not be accepted, and if they choose to continue, then they just pay the consequences,” added Stair. “It is my view that the punishment that is associated with a particular crime should be the same across the board, especially when it comes on to serious crimes, the punishment should be the same for young and old…. everyone will realise that if I do ‘x’ the punishment will be ‘y’.”

Speaking against the background that not-so-long-ago Hanover was the safest parish in Jamaica, Stair describes the present crime situation in the parish as “heartbreaking”, saying that as a native of the parish he can recall earlier times when circuit court judges had not much to do when they visited the parish.

“I remember the days when circuit court judges used to come to Hanover and, in no time, they could retire to the real bar,” Stair said, jokingly in reference to locations where alcoholic beverages are sold. “Formerly, parents focused their kids on education. Today they are left alone to be socialised by social media and other alien technologies.”

editorial@gleanerjm.com