Even after Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced that she would forgive and meet with the teenager who posted a video blog of herself uttering vile and obscene remarks against the government leader, many have questioned, "Where are the parents?" Footage of the young woman captured by news cameras, saw her accompanied by an elder woman, presumed to be her mother. But since the controversial video blog appeared on social networking site, Facebook and file-sharing site, You Tube, there has been no utterance from the child's parents on the matter. One day after the Prime Minister's forgiving stance, the T&T Guardian spoke with two mothers in T&T, who gave their opinions on the situation.
Mother's must hold the forte
Carlene Donald is a 44-year-old mother of one daughter, who is studying abroad. Donald said two years ago, prior to her child's migration to the US, she was forced to set strict rules when it came to Facebook.
"I think Facebook must be controlled and supervised at all times. I had situations with my daughter, where her father (with whom she lived) would be sleeping and she'd be on Facebook at all hours of the night," she explained. Donald said she and her daughter's father took a decision to limit the teenager's freedom as it related to the hours of use on the popular site. "We gave her a time frame in which she was allowed to be online. I'm not all that computer savvy and I don't have time for that, but people in my office would call me and tell me things that my daughter had been posting on Facebook," she admitted.
Donald, who is the administrator at Kids In Need of Direction (Kind), said parents didn't supervise their children as they should be supervised. She said she felt Facebook should be controlled and monitored by parents. However, she explained that setting an age limit for use of the social hub could prove difficult, since everyone seemed to utilise the forum for one reason or another. Donald admitted that if her child had posted such a video blog against the Prime Minister or any other official, the girl would have been banned from Facebook entirely. "I think the Prime Minister made the best move because sometimes we don't know the reason children do things. Maybe she was looking for attention, maybe her parents aren't at home very much, maybe she just wanted attention, which is what she got. I think it's important to find out why she really did it," said Donald.
Calling on mothers to hold down the forte, Donald said she understood that most homes were manned by single mothers, adding that mothers of T&T should be mindful of their children's activities at all times. Michelle Clarke-Williams is the single mother of 12-year-old Jada Williams. At the age of 11, Jada was given the permission to sign up for her very own Facebook account. Clarke-Williams said she was quite skeptical about it all, but nevertheless, spoke with her child about the underlying facts associated with online social behaviour. She explained that the novelty of the social networking tool had captured her daughter so much, that when she had amassed over 100 friends in her network, she was incredibly excited. "I spoke with her about paedophiles and other negative things that come along with being online," she explained, adding that she herself would hardly have the time to visit the site but trusted that her guidance would always propel her daughter to do the right thing.
Admitting that as a parent she would have verbally reprimanded her daughter should she have engaged in such behaviour against the Prime Minister, Clarke-Williams said she would have sat with her child and highlighted all the reasons why such behaviour would not and should not be accepted. "As Trinidadians we often wait until something happens to talk to our children or deal with certain issues. This situation gives parents the chance to now talk to their children about how they use Facebook and other online sites," she said.
