Edward Seaga, Contributtor

At last, sufficient emotion is being developed around the behavioural problems of children that some initiatives may be put in place to deal with them effectively.

Recently, a new regulatory body, the Child Development Agency, was formed. It is responsible for new legislation enacted to protect children. While these are necessary, they play an ipso facto role, that is, they intervene largely after the event.

What is more so needed are steps to ensure that the problems do not arise.

Violence in schools is a matter of main concern. The incidence is increasing and teachers are throwing their hands in the air in frustration. Students react differently. Incidents of violence cause panic and fear. Whatever the response, the cause is the main area of concern.

What is the reason for the explosions of violent acts?

The reason is not that there was an exchange of harsh words, or name calling, or disrespect. These are the triggers of the gun, which has already been loaded from early childhood with underlying fundamentals in the psychological make-up of the child ready to take aggressive action when the trigger is pulled.

Damaging

In the neurological make-up of every child, indeed, from infancy, is a developing brain, the growth of which is dependent on the level of exposure to stress the child will face. The exposure is through the home and the environment. The stress is the physical and verbal abuse, which the child receives in disciplinary or provocative situations, which the child experiences while growing up.

Customary disciplinary practices rely on violent methods. From a recent UNESCO study, 72 per cent of all households in Jamaica admit to using violence in some way to discipline children.

The use of discipline of this type might achieve an immediate social purpose in correcting a problem of poor conduct. But it is also neurologically damaging to that part of the brain which is sensitive to such shocks. The more instances of violent action the more damage to the brain, leaving it so impaired eventually that it affects the learning process.

Children who are so affected cannot respond to provocation with normal protest, using language as a retort. When language is used, it is abusive because the impaired brain has not learned how to command the use of language for proper retort without being abusive. The extreme of abusive language is a resort to obscenities. The fact that this is common place indicates the extent of damaged brains, which abound and the spread of the overall problem.

Cycle of abuse

The conditions of theenvironment which cause stress are both social and physical. The physical environment becomes stressful when there is overcrowding at home, resulting in fights for space on the bed, in the yard and struggles for food and clothing within the family.

But the most stressful experiences are the relationship of the child to parent or caregiver. Here, it is both the bonding of love and affection or lack of bonding between parent/caregiver and the child, which becomes the source of brain damage.

The child, whose brain is damaged today by abuse, becomes tomorrow's adult abuser. This makes sure that a fresh set of abusers is created by each generation to abuse the next set of children to follow. There is then a perpetual cycle of abuse, by breeding a perpetual cycle of abusers ensuring that they abuse enough children to take their place as the cycle fulfils itself.

What can be done? Families need to be trained in parenting. The Jamaica Teachers' Association should not be appealing to families to help stop the violence in schools without helping to train parents in proper parental practices, using the PTA as a vehicle and the school as the venue. This is not really the responsibility of the school it is to its own benefit to get involved.

The matter is serious enough that training families how to provide good parenting should be a national campaign led by a suitably staffed Child Development Agency with the Prime Minister leading the way as the spokesperson who will best get the ear of the people.

The use of television and radio would be the most appropriate means to carry the message. A major campaign of promotion will create a persuasive message, opening the door for training.

This must be backed up with an outreach programme to parents using the schools as platforms where trained social workers can provide to parents not only instructions on how to, but on how not to conduct themselves as parents so as to open a bigger door of love and affection to their children.

The results would be beneficial to the child, parent, school, community and most of all, the family, reinforced by support from deeply committed leaders. There is everything to gain, and nothing to lose.

The scope of such an undertaking must be national and dramatic to ensure that none who needs the training is ignored.

Changing the face of Jamaica begins not only with the children, but the parents too.

Edward Seaga is a former prime minister. He is now a distinguished fellow at the University of the West Indies. Email: odf@uwimona.edu.jm.