The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Cynthia Mamle Morrison, has advised all working parents to ensure that their children are being left in the care of people who will not expose them to danger in the wake of the deadly Coronavirus.
As part of the measures taken against the spread of the deadly pandemic, President Nana Akufo-Addo in an address to the nation ordered the closure of all universities, senior high schools, and basic schools in the country effective on March 16, 2020.
Some working parents have raised concerns about the safety of their children while they are at their various workplaces.
Mrs. Morrison in reaction to their concerns, has urged all working parents to keep an eagle eye on whoever they leave their children with to ensure that they do not harm them in any way.
“Children go on vacation, so whatever it is, we leave our children with people. The only thing is that we should be responsible, knowing the people that we are leaving the children with,” she said.
She added that anyone at all can hurt or defile a child regardless of the relationship they have with them, so it is essential that working parents create an environment where their children can easily share their problems with them.
“Even fathers and mothers and uncles do things to children so we only have to be very careful and then teach our children also to report to us anything that happens in our absence,” she stated.
She further noted that parents should teach children basic hygiene like washing of hands so they can practice them even in their absence. According to her, all these can go a long way to control the spread of Coronavirus among children.
“Start teaching the children how to wash their hands. My five-year-old… she’s now six and one time she said, ‘mummy my teacher said we should wash our hands under running water with soap, and then when we finish, we should use hand sanitizers’. She has one in her pocket, and I make sure that they have it on them,” she concluded.
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