THE ANGLICAN CHURCH feels the shocking promiscuity and obscene behaviour by some young children across Barbados is being caused by a lack of supervision in the home.
“We think that the problem is at several levels, and one of the problems has a lot to do with exposure,” Bishop of Barbados and Archbishop of the West Indies Dr John Holder told the SUNDAY SUN yesterday.
“A lot of children are exposed to adult information and adult material at too young an age and that’s part of the problem.
“There is not adequate supervision in the household, and if you expose your little ones to that adult information which they cannot handle at that age, they are going to use it but use it in a very inappropriate way.
“They are not mature enough to understand and to use it,” he added.
The Anglican leader’s comments came in the wake of recent public disclosures involving the sexual molestation of a number of primary school students.
The bishop said the Anglican Church, including the entire West Indies province, was dedicating the year to the family.
“We in the church are concerned about that kind of exposure, and we will try to do our best to encourage parents to be more responsible in terms of the ways they raise their children and how they expose their children too early to adult information.”
Holder also stressed the importance of partnership in the society.
“The church, the home and the school – that threesome. If two are working in one direction and the other is going in another direction, the child suffers,” he said.
Last week, the Ministry of Education and the Royal Barbados Police Force announced they were investigating the reported incidents of inappropriate conduct involving primary school students.
