Parents must be mindful of utterances in child-upbringing – Corporal Appiah
Corporal Daniel Ofori Appiah, the Founder of the Watch Your Tongue (WYT) Campaign, has advised parents to mind the words they use in bringing up their children.
He said children were shaped based on their cultural assimilation, where language played a very important role.
Cpl Appiah was addressing members of the Assemblies of God Church at Asylum-Down, a suburb of Accra, in a joint programme with the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) on Child Protection.
As a peace officer, his WYT Campaign was to inculcate in the populace the habit of using pleasant language in their day-to-day activities.
The Campaign is also to sensitise the citizenry on acceptable language use, both written and spoken, on social and traditional media, as well as gestures to foster unity amongst the people, irrespective of tribe, religion or political affiliation.
Cpl Appiah does not limit the Campaign to Ghana alone but makes his voice heard in countries including the United Kingdom, Spain, USA and Dubai through interviews on radio.
Issues discussed include discipline, avoidance of social vices, hate speeches and defamatory statements.
Cpl Appiah urged parents to use words that would help bring up their children in high moral standards and avoid practices that would make them deviants in society.
“Parents should show love to their children and avoid using words that would make them vulgar, aggressive and disrespectful in society,” he said.
He said teachers also had a very essential role to play in the Campaign and called on them to use words that would build the self-confidence of their pupils to become better future leaders.
Mr Kwesi Boateng, the Public Education Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Directorate of NCCE, said the 1992 Constitution mandates the Commission to educate Ghanaians on their rights and responsibilities including protecting their young ones.
Parents, he said, should take up their responsibilities in bringing up their children as they were assets to the family as well as the nation.
Source: GNA