Eighteen-year-old man or boy?

THE EDITOR, Madam:

“Once a man, twice a child.” Many of us have heard this saying; and while physically this statement seems to be true, how applicable is it? Is it the stature and physical features alone that determine a man or is it the values, morals and characteristics that he cultivate and demonstrate?

Growing up in an age of social media, there are few terms being thrown around. For example, accountability, courage, emotional intelligence, leadership, and the list goes on. Additionally, very few adult males possess or display these characteristics. What is disheartening is that most of these persons are around male children who will eventually copy their traits and repeat the cycle. Is it harmful to the society? Is this in anyway linked to the crime rate that we as a small-island country experience? So many questions could be asked but so little answers are available.

Integrity and respect are two of the qualities that are not often practised among young adult males and boys nowadays. But even through interaction with middle-aged and senior adult males in society, one will realise that mentally, many of them have not grown past their teenage years; and if they are present in their children’s lives, most likely those children will not have grown past their teenage years either. Is it the lack of requisite life experience that is to be blamed for this situation? Is there a specific amount of experience that is needed? If so, could there be an initiation of programmes and presentations that could help with the development of a man’s mindset? If these programmes already exist, could steps be taken to make them more known? Would these programmes help with lowering unnecessary violence? Has it been tried before?

With the little knowledge I have in criminology, I learnt that psychology is a part of what affects crime and violence. Knowing this, I strongly believe that promoting these programmes that would play a role in the mindset change is one way in which we can attack the problem we face.

Pairing this approach with the skills, training, and other educational efforts will have a significant positive impact. The problem of men still thinking as children and showing limited sign of psychological development is prevalent, and fixing this will help to us to create men that society are pleased to have and role models that boys can emulate.

OVAUN BARRETT