Don’t fail our young ones, says priest

An Anglican priest has taken parents to task for placing too much emphasis on getting their children to win in the annual Kiddies Kadooment.Assisting priest at St Mary’s Anglican Church, Reverend Frank Gill, told the congregation yesterday that parents seemed bent on seeing their offspring win in the Crop-Over Festival rather than in teaching them about values.Reverend Gill registered concern about “these little kids”, with this year’s Kiddies Kadooment just over and parents looking to prepare for next year’s.“[Children] are now trained in who is going to be first next year, who is going to be second, who is going to get the crown and all of this,” Gill said during his sermon.“Who should I blame for this? The parents, some of whom are saying [of their daughters outfitted in costumes]: ‘Ain’t she look sweet? Ain’t she look good?’ “Is this what we want in our community today?I am not saying not to enjoy yourself, but put right first. Where are our values?”The priest complained that values were “going down the drain”.He urged parents to “train up our children in the way they should be trained”, asserting that “later on in life, they will not depart” from this path.The service launched the Council of Hotel & Restaurant Workers’ 25th anniversary celebrations.Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy, Minister of Education and Human Resource Development, Ronald Jones, general secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU), Sir Roy Trotman, and management and workers in the tourist industry attended the service.Gill’s sermon focused on the timely and effective execution of jobs.He said that as Christians were taught to ready themselves for the coming of Christ, workers and other Barbadians need to avoid putting off tasks they must carry out.He charged that many people were simply looking to get as much as they can out of a situation, without giving due care and attention to the tasks set them. (TY)