Parents in UAE spend only 30 minutes a day with children — study

Dubai: Emirati students will receive a letter addressed to their parents urging them to spend more time with their children as part of a government campaign launched on Monday.

Speaking at a discussion, Lt General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Deputy Chairman of Police and Public Security in Dubai, urged parents to spend more time with their children.

“All government and private institutes should work in this campaign to enhance relationship between parents and children. Juvenile delinquency can be prevented if parents spend more time with their children as recent studies showed that parents in the UAE spend only about 30 minutes per day with their children which is alarming,” Lt Gen Tamim said.

He said that parents cannot find time to talk with their children as they are busy with their mobile phones.

“It is an alarming issue as we will lose our children due to lack of monitoring and interest in the child’s daily life. Parents spend less time with their children due to social media and technology now.”

Meanwhile, Marwan Ahmad Al Sawaleh, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, suggested having an awareness letter for Emirati families that will be delivered to students who will hand it over to their parents.

“Parents must make a balance between work and spending time with their families. We are ready to deliver the letter to Emirati students to pass it to their parents to raise their awareness,” Al Sawaleh said in the session.

The one month campaign titled, ‘Be with your children. They will be with you’, launched by the Juvenile Care and Awareness Association in cooperation with 20 government and private institutes to raise awareness among parents to spend more time with their children and to keep them away from negative company. The campaign will feature clips and posts on social media networks.

Dr Mohammad Murad Abdullah, Secretary-general of the Juvenile Care and Awareness Association, said that the session reached a list of other recommendation like contacting the concerned authority to open specialised social clinics in neighbourhoods to solve social problems.

“Parents and children can use such clinics to solve problems and provide tips on how to deal with a child’s problem to enhance relationship,” Abdullah said.

Speakers agreed that UAE needs more field studies about family problems and how much time parents spend with children.

“We urge government bodies to organise awareness sessions with the employees about how to deal with children and how to have a positive dialogue and enhance the family environment,” Abdullah added.

Last year, the association’s hotline received 186 calls from different nationalities including 103 from Emiratis.