Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Charles Griffith has urged community stakeholders and child development advocates to rethink how parenting is approached in modern Barbados, stressing the need for earlier and more meaningful interventions.
Griffith made the call while delivering remarks at the opening session of the National Parenting Seminar on Wednesday, hosted by the Community Development Department at the Hilton Barbados Resort.
Addressing a gathering of social workers, educators, and parenting advocates, he challenged participants to move beyond traditional models and consider how to reach individuals before they even become parents.
Reflecting on his tenure as Minister of Youth, Griffith pointed to troubling patterns among at-risk youth.
“When I was Minister of Youth, I used to marvel at the fact that we had individuals in the paper who were 17 years old, 19 years old…and you wonder why it is that at nine years old, we were not able to shape these youngsters,” he said.
Quoting a former colleague, he noted, “It is easier to bend a child than to break a man,” and argued that many current parenting initiatives focus too heavily on reactive measures rather than prevention.
“I’m suggesting, look at the process of how we are going to reach parents before they become parents, because it is a problem.”
“If you’re only focusing on solutions for parenting, then there’s an issue that you are leaving on the table,” Griffith said.
The minister also highlighted the importance of emotional connection within families, sharing a personal example from his own life.
“I have a 36-year-old son, and for 36 years…every conversation finished with, ‘I love you, son.’ We have some of our young people who have never heard that from the people we tag as parents,” Griffith said.
He stressed that fostering expressions of care and affirmation should be a central part of parenting education, particularly for young people who will one day assume parental roles.
“When you deliberate today, how is it that you reach those youngsters? How do you instill in the ones that are going to be parents that you should be able to do this with your children?” Griffith asked.
Griffith also maintained that fathers needed to be involved in their children’s lives, warning against reducing men’s roles in families to biological contributions alone.
“It cannot be a situation where in 2026 that our young men are only sperm donors. It can’t work,” he said.
He further cautioned that traditional seminar-style approaches may not be enough to effect real change.
“If we continue to feel that our parenting programme is going to revolve around having individuals come to a room like this, then I think we’re going to fail,” Griffith said.
“Part of what you look at today must be a totally new concept to reach individuals who are in the struggle.”
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