BUT LOOKA HOW fast the year gine ’long doh nuh? The year only just start and we at the end o’ January a’ready.
I had tuh say the other day dat before ya could catch ya hand good after the Independence and Christmas happenings, all the January bills and any li’l bits left ovah from December staring ya in ya face tuh be paid and, look, the people at the various business places ain’t making nuh kind o’ sport at all.
From the time a couple o’ days after the payment date of a particular bill pass, duh hounding ya down fuh duh money.
But dat ain’t what I want tuh talk ’bout this week; I want tuh draw the parents attention tuh the children again. As you might realise by now, this is one o’ my pet peeves.
I hate tuh see young people get hurt in any way but even though we does say dat some o’ duh hard-ears and own-way and won’t hear or listen, we is the parents and we gotta look after dem.
Sometimes we parents does be too complacent or does blind we eyes tuh a lot o’ things dat does be going on.
Now last year there was a big hu-ha ’bout allowing children tuh carry school cellphones. Well, dat is now a thing of the past because ya does see almost evah school child now wid a cellphone in duh hands when the evening come.
I say evening because I does pass by a certain school almost every evening and I does watch dem and see how dem does be getting on at the various bus stops or while walking ’long the street wid duh friends.
What I trying tuh get at here is dat the parents doan know what these children does be watching when duh get wid duh friends; and nowaday people posting some o’ all kinds o’ sick and depraved pictures and videos pon Facebook and any and evahbody could just pull dem up and watch dem.
The other thing is, these children got some o’ all kinds o’high-tech phones dat could pull up anything.
I was talking tuh a friend o’ mine only yesterday and she was telling me ’bout some things she saw pon Facebook dat make she stomach sick. She start tuh tell me and I cut she off quick; telling she straight dat I doan want it in my mind so I ain’t even want tuh hear bout it far less see it, so please doan miss and send nutten so tuh me.
She started tuh tell me ’bout some things dat was happening in one o’ the other islands wid schoolchildren and was lamenting pon how bad it made her feel as a parent.
That is why I feel the need tuh appeal tuh all parents tuh be more vigilant and check duh children books, nuh matter how small duh is; duh phones, duh telephone conversations and definitely duh friends. I ain’t gine tell you nuh lie: sometimes when I see how some o’ the li’l girls does be getting on when the evenings come, wid duh girl friends and sometimes wid the boys, I does wonder wha’ kinda children dem is at home.
Sometimes I does just watch dem hard, hoping dat they would catch on and behave duh selves, and if you see how some o’ dem does stare ya down or just cut duh eye at ya. all I does do is shake my head and
guh ‘long.
I know dat all o’ these children, girls in particular, cahn be getting on so at home but because o’ the influence o’ some o’ the other children and because some o’ dem want tuh fit in wid the crowd, dem does be going along wid the behaviour.
Thank God all ain’t so and it is the minority. But because o’ their behaviour, we does lump dem all in the same barrel. It frightens me when I see or hear ’bout the things young people getting duhselves involved in and I pray dat the parents will not be complacent or naive. But get wid it.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.