Parents are being urged to teach their children to speak up.
This was the advice from senior teacher at Ellersie School, Lisa Dottin, who said she feared some of the island’s socialisation agents were failing to equip children with the necessary social skills.
Dottin was speaking recently at a Barbados Association of Future Office Professionals workshop on confidence-building and self-esteem. It was held at the University of the Open Campus, The Pine, St Michael.
“Our Caribbean children lack self-esteem. I think in a lot of ways the homes are to blame. A lot of parents don’t teach their children to speak up. They go, ‘Shut up, shut up, shut up’ as opposed to ‘What is bothering you?’. We don’t talk with the children, we talk at and down to them,” said Dottin.
The educator for over ten years said this negatively impacted children and caused them to exhibit introverted tendencies.
She added that some teachers were at fault for not giving students opportunities to express themselves.
“Sadly, some of my colleagues don’t encourage students to speak either; so you find teachers snap at children saying, ‘Don’t talk, don’t say nothing in here’. So if you look at it, the home, the school, and depending on what church culture, if the child has any at all, the whole socialisation package is to blame.”
Dottin said in a changing society, where children were faced with more distractions and challenges, it was important for them to appreciate themselves as individuals, and value and respect their lives.
She said each child was capable of achieving greatness, regardless of their economic standing or the community from which they came.
“The confident child is usually the most successful child, not because of intelligence, but because of their determination to find different ways to solve problems. They tell themselves that they can do this and ask for help.
“When you ask some children if they understood what happened in class, they say no. When you ask if they spoke to any of their peers, they say no.”
The workshop comprised of students from Barbados Community College and secondary schools. (SB)