Family interactions must for grooming children: Experts

Adequate support from family members, particularly parents, to their children has become a crucial issue for their proper grooming in the greater interest of transforming them into worthy citizens.

Quoting findings of different research papers, Dr Sabina Sultana, professor of the Department of Psychology of Rajshahi University, revealed this.

On the issue, rational interactions between mothers and children should take place in each of the families, she suggests.

At present maximum five percent mothers share the adolescence related issues with their teenage children which lead to negative physical, emotional and social consequences for young people.

More than 95 percent of mothers hesitate to share the changed matters. But, basically they are the key players to give knowledge about the issues among the teenage children.

Adolescent period is a sensitive period and this is the time when many teenagers commit mistakes due to curiosity and ignorance. Changes in their body structure and hormonal activity surprise them unless proper knowledge on physiology is imparted to them, she said.

Due to proper guidance from their near and dear ones teenagers fall prey to various fallacies. They need to learn decent behaviors from their surroundings for their sound grooming, said Dr Sabina, who teaches child and adolescent psychology.

Shafiqul Islam, commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, said there are various juvenile crimes, especially sexual harassments involving school and college girls and drug addiction, in society which are said to be the outcome of reluctance.

Some unexpected incidents like extremism and suicides are happening due to ignorance about the adolescence changes.

Teenagers get involved in unlawful, anti-social and suspicious activities due to insufficient control by the guardians which greatly affect the law and order situation of the society.

He stated that more than 15 percent of crimes are being committed by the teenagers. The law-enforcers alone cannot prevent them. Initiatives from family and society are necessary.

Shafiqul said both print and electronic media should work together to attain the goal.

There should be mandatory measures to incorporate legal issues in textbooks. Besides, institution level counselling for teenagers needs to be introduced on a priority basis.

Advocate Abdus Samad, BLAST local unit coordinator, views adolescent time is very important. So, every one should feel about giving the adolescents right directions or lessons for their proper development.

Ensuring adolescent-friendly reproductive health services has become an urgent need for making the youths free from various problems. Rural adolescent girls are not well equipped with the reproductive health education, which is in fact a crucial issue to impart them. Providing youth with safe spaces to ask questions and receive accurate information is extremely important.