Stakeholders working on children’s issues in Kilifi County have called for increased adoption of positive parenting and intergenerational dialogue to address teenage pregnancies, early marriages and violence against children.
The stakeholders said strengthening communication between parents and children would create a supportive environment where young people can freely express themselves, seek guidance and share challenges affecting their lives.
Speaking during an intergenerational dialogue in Kilifi town that brought together officials from the Gender Department, teachers, parents and village elders, Kilifi County Chief Officer in the Office of the Governor William Katana said inadequate parental guidance and widening generational gaps continued to expose children to various forms of vulnerability.
Katana urged parents to embrace positive parenting by creating safe spaces where children could communicate freely and seek guidance on challenges affecting them.
He also encouraged parents to monitor the content their children consume, particularly amid increased access to digital technology, saying parents needed to understand the changing environment in which children were growing.
“Let’s open our minds, know that things have changed and have an environment that will have controls in terms of our communication, the access to technology and communication to the children where they feel safe and the community have a stake in the growth of the child,” he said.
Kilifi County Director of Gender Mwangome Shumaa said intergenerational dialogues and public participation had helped bridge the gap between older and younger generations.
“The issue of dialogue has been here. For the last three years, we have partnered with the Finnish Government, going ward to ward and training trainers on positive parenting. The intergenerational dialogues have helped address generational gaps as we engage young people on some of the most complicated topics,” he said.
Shumaa said involving young people in community decision-making would help them understand their culture, responsibilities and role in society while preparing them for responsible parenthood in future.
He called for continued collaboration among families, schools, government agencies and community organisations to strengthen child protection and promote positive parenting across the county.
Lilian Samba, an officer from Zamara Foundation, said the dialogue focused on protecting the girl child from teenage pregnancies and early marriages.
“We have come together as stakeholders to discuss possible remedies to rescue the girl child from teenage pregnancy and early marriage as we protect society as a whole,” she said.
Samba said the engagement also sought to identify gaps within communities that could be contributing to the continued prevalence of teenage pregnancies.
The stakeholders also raised concern over young mothers travelling to Gulf countries in search of domestic employment, saying children left behind could lack adequate parental care and become vulnerable to abuse and other social challenges.
They noted that inadequate parental involvement was also affecting schools, with teachers increasingly assuming responsibilities beyond teaching as they dealt with children facing challenges at home and in their communities.
Charity Mapenzi, a primary school head teacher in Kilifi, said challenges experienced by children at home often manifested themselves in school, forcing teachers to assume both teaching and parenting roles.
“We are dealing with pupils from different environments and backgrounds with different problems. As a teacher, I am forced to play both a parenting and teaching role. However, the goal is to positively impact the personality of the child so that, in the end, both parties will be proud,” she said.
Mapenzi said some parents had neglected their responsibilities while others travelled to Arab countries in search of employment, leaving children, particularly girls, vulnerable to abuse.
She urged young people to prioritise education and personal development before taking on parental responsibilities, while discouraging early marriages.
“Everything has its time, stop rushing. If you really need to go to the Gulf for employment purposes, please make sure you have raised your child to an age where they can do basic things by themselves. The rate at which our children are giving birth is very alarming,” she said.
Mapenzi said behavioural challenges arising from difficulties at home were increasingly being brought into classrooms, forcing teachers to spend more time addressing such issues at the expense of teaching.
The stakeholders cited a study by ICRH which identified the communication gap between children and parents as one of the factors contributing to teenage pregnancies, leaving children vulnerable to manipulation and abuse.
By Stephen Mrira and Laban Mrima
