Counsellor stresses importance of family values DR. ANGELA Gordon-Stair sounded an ominous warning on Saturday night that should Jamaicans fail to return to a sense of family values, there will be continued breakdown in social order. "I wish to suggest that if the disintegration of the family as the foundation of our society continues at the rapid pace at which is now happening, then development will be difficult, if not impossible," she warned. Dr. Gordon-Stair, who is the mental health counsellor at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the daughter of Rev. Canon Weeville Gordon, Custos of Kingston, was addressing members of the Lay Magistrates Association at their annual fundraising dinner at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston. She pointed out that the breakdown was taking place in poor and wealthy families, single-parent headed households and in families where both parents are present. Pointing to factors threatening the stability and influence of the family, Dr. Gordon-Stair said one of the major forces in the disintegration that is both a cause and an effect is teenage pregnancy. "As more and more of our young women become mothers before they are emotionally and economically ready to cope with the responsibilities of parenting, we are seeing more physical abuse and emotional neglect of our children," the doctor said. She stressed that the population of street children continues to grow and the number of children who have had to take on adult responsibilities in the home, such as the care and nurture of younger siblings, continues to impede the psychological development of children. "Not having the experience of being cared for and protected from the harsh realities of life leaves such parented children at high risk of becoming involved very early in unhealthy sexual relationships in their search for love. To be held and made to feel wanted even for a brief moment is a very powerful unconscious motivator to become involved in early sexual behaviour," said Mrs. Gordon-Stair. Early pregnancy, she said, often leads to a curtailment of educational opportunities for young children. This has implications for their economic viability and they often times become trapped in a cycle of poverty. Dysfunctional behaviours from one generation to the next through what is known as the intergenerational patterns within families, are threats to the country's social and economic development. Dr. Gordon-Stair emphasised that children who are brought up in such dysfunctional environments, are likely to be retarded socially and intellectually and, therefore, not likely to do well at school.
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