Parents advised to be assertive with their children

Hajia Ramatu Abdullai, a Muslim Women leader has advised parents to be assertive at home through effective communication and mentoring in the upbringing of their children, especially the adolescent girls.

She said adolescent girls were often and easily attracted by material things, which partly or wholly influenced their lives negatively if parental guidance was not effective.

Hajia Abdullai, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regional Vice President of the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Ghana gave the advice in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) about materialism and its concomitant moral degeneration among adolescent girls in the country nowadays in Sunyani.

She expressed worry that modernization as a result of globalization had resulted to the adoption of western cultures especially dressing, which was contrary to the Ghanaian cultural norms and values.

Hajia Abdullai, who is the wife of Alhaji Sheik Umar Abdul Kadir, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regional Chief Imam noted customs and traditions that dictated decent way of living in times past were gradually being taken over by foreign cultural values and the net effect was the indiscipline among the youth in their dressing, poor attitudes towards education and work.

She observed adolescents of today did not respect cultural values, rules and regulations with the view that they were capable of deciding for themselves but that was not helping them.

Hajia Ramatu cited most adolescent girls dressed indecently while others engaged in hard drugs peddling and abuse, fraudulent acts like ‘sakawa’(illegal quick means of making money) and occultism because of peer pressure and lack of values and effective mentoring.

She, therefore, entreated parents and guardians to have an upper hand in decisions taking particularly by their adolescent children to facilitate a proper and fruitful upbringing for the nation to get disciplined future parents, guardians and leaders.