Staff writer - Maureen Gordon
I believe that many children and young people have a very poor start in life; for various reasons they lacked proper parental guidance and instructions. These children are therefore left to parent themselves and make up their own rules as they go along. I have heard that there is a street gang in Kingston Jamaica who calls themselves the “fatherless crew” the common bond between them? They do not know their fathers.
The notion of children growing up with a sense of innocence and wonder of the world around them is a false one now, because they quickly swop their dolls and action figures for toys from the adult world, sometimes too quickly to understand or realise that the instructions to play the adult games are not the same. I remember when I was training to be a social worker; I was confronted with this question, what is reality, is there a reality. I have been thinking about this question recently in the context of the situation facing society and a minority of our young people, whose lives are being lived on the edge. My question: What is their reality? And are we in fact living in a parallel universe, where there are different rules.
Prison or the threat of prison can change behaviour
I wonder, does the average parent/adult know and understand the world that young people are living in. I am convinced that many young people are seeing and perceiving a different reality, a world that many adults do not understand. There is a saying it is “a dog eat dog world”, meaning every man or woman for themselves. In many respects that is how things have become on the streets. Kill or be killed, and as shocking and disturbing as it might be for the rest of us, it is a normal reality for some young people.
I have discovered that I need to get in touch with and in tune with young people’s reality, or their perception of the world they are living in now in order for me to support and challenge some of their reality which has become distorted. As adults we have to help young people see the real world with its difficulties and challenges but also with solutions which do not involve taking the easy way out. Are we asleep to young people’s view on their world, if we are we need to wake up. It’s time to face up to reality. Are you a concerned parent or someone working with children and young people? Then you have a vital part to play in turning the moral compass around.
I welcome your comments
