Gender Ministry urges parents to have more time for their kids

The Western Region Director of the Ministry of Children, Gender and Social Protection is encouraging parents to make time to meet the needs of their wards.

Faustina Yorke Awotwi was reacting to the news of a 14-year-old girl committing suicide at Dwomo in the Shama District of the Western Region.

The sad incident occurred on Sunday, August 2, 2020.

The victim, Angela Cobbinah, was a JHS 1 student.

In a phone interview on Omanba-pa, the flagship morning on Connect FM, Madam Yorke Awotwi urged parents to spend ample time with their kids to create enabling environment to make them have the edge to open up.

Using Angela Cobbinah’s suicide issue as a point of reference, she said something was wrong with the girl which she couldn’t open up to her parents about even though her parents claimed she was a good girl and nothing seemed to be eating her up.

She explained that in most cases, parents think that beating their children frequently will correct them but the opposite rather happens.

As one keeps beating a child, the wider the gap keeps growing between the child and the parents, she noted.

“Most people think more beatings and assault on children is the surest way to instill disciple but it’s never the case”.

She indicated, however, that sometimes beating children and using abusive words on them will rather make them fear the parents and will not confide in them when there is a problem.

According to her, raising a child requires a lot of time, patience and empathy so as to ensure that they do not go wayward.

Madam Yorke Awotwi entreated parents to spend quality time with their wards in order to create a lasting cordial relationship between them, especially the girl-child and her parent.

She added that in this modern era, parent must give the right information to their wards and desist from shielding the truth from them.

She also advised parents to show love and compassion to their children, stressing on the fact that they ought to show them love

“Buying expensive gifts does not necessarily show love but getting closer, spending enough time with kids speaks volume of how much they are being loved.”