Last week I had the pleasure of attending the parent's forum in Dubai organised by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). It was a great acknowledgment to the fact that children are the most precious resource a society has. Like young trees, children grow and develop in whatever way they are trained and according to the influences they experience.
Therefore, I believe that parents' role is not limited to providing material resources for their children. They must also endeavour systematically to develop their children's moral and ethical framework, which will yield healthy young people who will grow up with a positive and powerful sense that they have a role to play in serving their society.
I am a mother of two children, aged 11 and 8, and a strong advocate of the immense role that we as parents must play in the shaping of our children's perceptions of life and preparing them for a positive role they must play for the betterment of their societies. Personally, I haven't pursued my career, which is in the field of quality in health care, until a couple of months ago when I felt that both my children were in school while I am at work.
I also now can demonstrate to them that I am serving society. They can now understand this and I am able to be with them from the moment they step out of school, which is a great advantage that I have with my work hours.
I have worked as a high school teacher before I had my children, which taught me practically the difference between the children that have parents who attend to them and others who were void of ethical principles and warmth of a family — those who were attended to by housemaids only. Hence, I took a vow to do my best to attend to my children and made that my priority and focus all these years on them. I am happy I did that.
— The writer is a government official living in Dubai
