Mothers and Children In Focus

The month of May has a special flavour, not only for Vincentians, but for the people of the world as a whole.

The month begins with the quintessential international holiday, May Day, a day to pay tribute to the workers of the world,on whom the burden of production falls. This international theme runs throughout the month, which is designated as Child Month, a month which also features the treasured Mothers Day, celebrated this upcoming Sunday.

It is a pity that the essence of May Day, that of solidarity, seems to have lost its flavour in St Vincent and the Grenadines for the concept of solidarity also underpins both Child Month as well as Mothers Day. Instead of the cross-cutting approach to workers solidarity, more and more our working class seems to be divided on partisan political lines and International Workers Day has become just another public holiday. What if the trade union movement could focus on the issues underpinning Child Month and the welfare of our precious mothers for the entire month?

The emphasis during Child Month are issues affecting the society as a whole. Some of them were highlighted during the month of April, internationally commemorated as Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month. This year we were all urged to take steps to heighten our awareness of child abuse and reminded that there is a pervasive form of abuse called neglect. Our children are both the foundation and the future of our society, and it is critical that we nurture and protect them, whether they are biologically ours or not.

Almost every week we hear reports of neglect and abuse of children, including infants. We must neither ignore these nor treat them lightly for we have a collective responsibility in this regard. Very often these abuses lead to negative reactions in later life as in the prevalence of crime and substance abuse, so our collective participation is a vital social contribution towards building a just and safe society.

Another important social landmark comes up this Sunday, May 11, when we join with hundreds of millions of people the world over to celebrate Mothers Day. Mothers play a vital role in society especially in relation to the upbringing of children and the building of harmonious families. Traditionally we honour our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers on this day, a tradition we must reinforce. We would urge that, in addition, particular attention be paid to young mothers. Many of the problems of neglect and abuse of young children are related to young mothers affected by a range of societal problems. They need and deserve our full support.

A happy, safe and peaceful MOTHERS DAY to our mothers from all of us at SEARCHLIGHT.