Quoting Shakespeare in support of good parenting

Jan 12, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
I read the earnest, well-meaning letter about the “urgent need for parenting classes and the need for an agency to conduct such classes.
Way back in the 1950s, a young man, the only son in a family of 4 children, and very close to his mother, told me that “a mother makes a home” and if a child has a “good” mother, that child is set for life.
I have always remembered that assessment and, from personal observation throughout the years, I have concluded that this young man was right. Now I ask myself “How does one teach parenting skills”? Parenting, to me, is instinctive, and may be based on the age of the parent/s and their own experience as children. In some cases, they either continue the pattern, or go in the opposite direction. Parenting attitudes may be passed on from generation to generation. Summing up, it seems largely instinctive – a parent is either nurturing and caring or not. It is not something that can be easily “taught”, in the manner of cooking, cleaning and garment- making.
It sometimes takes strangers to come to the defence of youngsters being unfairly treated. Many years ago, when 20-year old Prince Harry was constantly sniped at, by the public in general, and sections of the media seemed to get a kick out of the chap’s discomfort, I became so angry about the unfairness of it all, that I took it upon myself to try to present his predicament as I saw it.
The chap was being hounded – he visited a ‘watering hole’ one night and emerged to photographers’ flashlights and impertinent questions about his academic record. To me, the last straw. At one stage, I had pointed out that he may be a Prince, but he was also a human being – “if you prick him, would he not bleed”? (to quote Shakespeare). Moreover, his mother had helped so many of our children, now it was time for us to help one of hers,
I wrote to my ‘daily’, pointing out that the young man had lost his doting mother when on the brink of puberty, had held himself together well, and was now – at age 20 – without a job and doing the best he could.
Drawing on what I had seen while working in Guyana’s probation service, I mentioned that the chap seemed bored and needed a “proper job”. His aptitudes and skills should be checked out, and he should be allowed to say how he would like to use those gifts. I was so happy when he settled in a branch of the forces, and became popular among his colleagues. He only needed a ‘break’.
Today, that once ‘misplaced soul’ is perhaps the most popular member of the Royal Family. He moves easily among others. His mother should be very proud of him.
Geralda Dennison.

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