Focus attention on young mothers

10.MAY.11

The past week was a very busy one at the national level, climaxing with an action-packed weekend.{{more}} We had the end of Child Abuse Awareness month, the start of Child’s Month, the grand finale of the year-long Centenary celebrations of the Girls’ High School, and the launching of Vincy Carnival 2011. To some extent, these different activities seemed to take away some of the focus from Sunday’s observation of MOTHER’S DAY.

That does not mean that our precious mothers were forgotten. It is heartening to see how many of us are now making the time and effort to honour our mothers on this day. That trend needs to be encouraged, being one of the positive aspects in an increasingly self-centred world. There are those among us who attempt to downplay Mother’s Day celebrations by claiming that mothers should be honoured every day, so why this Mother’s Day fuss. However, that is really no argument against setting aside a special day to focus attention on the irreplaceable role of the mother, in the home and in the society in general.

Mother’s Day is the world’s way of saying thanks and appreciation to the mothers all around the globe, our way of recognising their invaluable contribution and of saying that they are indeed invaluable. In our case, the emphasis has been on individual actions at the family level with various religious and community organisations sometimes holding functions on Mother’s Day itself. It is a pity that we have not yet been able to organize any major activity at the national level to do justice to the occasion, including recognizing and honouring outstanding mothers.

Such an approach, with a suitable annual theme, can contribute even more in establishing the significance of the occasion. It can be a buttress and give impetus to individual family and community initiatives. It is not enough to leave it to the gratitude of individuals, for there are many mothers who, through no fault of theirs, experience many lonely, unrecognised Mother’s Days. They are mothers nonetheless. So, while we applaud the individual and family efforts, the wider role of mothers in our society must also be appreciated.

One area crying out for national attention is that of the role of young mothers, and the children they bear. There is much discussion on the air waves about teenage pregnancies, but it is often misdirected, focussing on the alleged sexual indiscretions of these young people and their supposed irresponsible behaviour. Yet, whatever the cause, the reality is that at the end of the day, the society, not just individual parents, has an ill-prepared young mother and child to nurture. Can we not use the occasion of Mother’s Day to focus some attention in that direction?

How does Mother’s Day fit in with all this? Can we seek to deepen our understanding of such social problems through the prism of Mother’s Day? We can, for instance in 2011, link the common threads of Mother’s Day and child abuse and utilize the opportunity to bring a much wider perspective to bear on young mothers, their children, and the societal consequences and responsibilities arising from such occurrences as teenage pregnancies.