IT’S EASIER TO BUILD A STRONG CHILD THAN TO REPAIR A BROKEN ADULT!

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]aising children is an incredibly hard and risky business in which no cumulative wisdom is gained: each generation repeats the mistakes the previous one made.” The forgoing is a quote from a renowned male actor who played a fatherly role in a popular sitcom that focused on family life. As grim as it may sound, many are beginning to express the same sentiment locally regarding the state of parenting especially among young people. There is great concern that the children being raised by these youngsters are primed to repeat the mistakes of their teenage parents.

Teenage pregnancy is a social problem that merits urgent attention, not simply because of the negative impact on the future prospect of the parents but more so because of the negative effects on the overall well-being of the children throughout life. Back in 1999, at a session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saint Lucia’s representative made the point that “a high prevalence of teenage pregnancy has long been a feature of Saint Lucian Society”. The representative went on to say: “In 1996 a comparative review of adolescent fertility among islands of the region revealed that Saint Lucia’s rate was 50% higher than that of our neighbouring island Barbados, for example, and more than twice that of the United States [whose rate was highest among that of industrialized countries for that period].” She added: “While at the primary and secondary level girls continue to out-do boys in performance standards, we are faced with the problem of “drop-outs”, particularly by girls who become pregnant while at school or who do not move on to tertiary education because of an unplanned pregnancy.” She highlighted the plight of these young girls in the following statement: “For the most part, they remain unskilled and are forced to take up low-paid jobs, or remain unemployed, dependent on a male partner, and are caught up in the vicious cycle of poverty.”

Regrettably, based on data from the official statistical department locally, the teenage fertility rate increased from 21.3% in 2010 to 23.3% in 2012 compared with the overall fertility rate of 1.5% in the same year.

The results from research done as far back as 1993 also indicate the poor prospects for some of the children of teenage parents. The researchers interviewed two hundred women who had just delivered at the Victoria Hospital and found that “165 pregnancies (82.5%) were unplanned” and “18.5% of all pregnancies occurred to teenagers”.

Moreover, “88 of the unintended pregnancies (53.3% of teenage cases or 44% of all pregnancies) were unwanted pregnancies.” In addition, a more recent poverty assessment reported that “high levels of teenage pregnancy exist in Saint Lucia and this exacerbates poverty”.  It is therefore easy to predict the outcome of children from unwanted and unplanned pregnancies and families living in poverty.

As is often the case, some of the “fathers to be” either disappear or are unconcerned, hence many of these children grow up without a father figure. Many of these young parents expose these infants to second-hand smoke from tobacco cigarettes and other mind-altering drugs. Some of them are taught how to swear as soon as they utter their first word. Further, they usually spend an inordinate amount of time watching television (sometimes unsupervised) which reinforces the language and conduct in their immediate environment. 

There are worse cases where the young parents view these infants as a barrier to enjoying their youthfulness. Hence they leave them in the care of relatives/friends or with no supervision while they try to make up for lost time. Some grandparents try to assist but many do not have the strength nor the skills to raise children in the current socially and economically challenging climate. Inevitably, these children are exposed to the harsh and inhumane conditions that would likely determine their prospects in life.

However, there are some social interventions that aim to reach out to these children and their families. There are also some young parents who, despite the odds, muster up the courage and take on the responsibility seriously. There are some children who are very resilient with a strong desire to succeed, striving tirelessly not to be moulded by their unfavourable circumstances. Those who are in a position to help these children should not forgo the opportunity as it is far “easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”.