Doha: Under the patronage of the Minister of State for Interior Affairs H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Director of Juvenile Police Department at the Ministry of Interior Brigadier Nasser Abdul Azeez Al Musallam inaugurated a forum on ‘Cultural Gap between Generations’ and an exhibition yesterday.
The forum is organised by the Juvenile Police Department in collaboration with Children’s Cultural Centre, at Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Representatives from several ministries, establishments and civil society organisations attended.
Director General of Children’s Cultural Centre Dr Hind Al Muftah, Director of Social Security Department at the Social Affairs Ministry, Najath Al Abdullah, Detective Inspector Jon Rouse from Queensland Police Service in Australia, Director of Mentor Forensic Services Ltd and a registered forensic psychologist from the Health Professional Council of UK Dr Joe Sullivan, Programme Director, responsible for training programmes and Outreach at the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia, the US, Guillermo Galarza and Lieutenant Colonel Fakhri Al Qatarina from Jordan, attended the forum.
The Assistant Director of Juvenile Police Department Colonel Abdullah Mohammed Al Hajri stressed the importance of parenting.
He told parents not to nurture children on the characters of parents “as they are born not in your time”. He added that the difference is a natural phenomenon, but it must be resolved through dialogue as it is the language of understanding and communication between generations.
Al Hajri said that the gap between generations is the result of many factors, including social, psychological and economic.
The insistence of the older generation on inherited values and ideas and their control over children’s behaviour while youngsters seeking behavioural independence often leads to intellectual and cultural conflicts between generations, he said.
The Public Relations Director of Children’s Cultural Centre Abdullah Hamed Al Mulla said that objectives and themes of the forum are the same principles and values for which the centre was established.
He said that the centre had spared no effort to make the event successful and hoped that it will bring positive results and recommendations on this crucial issue.
A number of papers were presented on various themes, including ‘Social gap between parents and children’ and ‘Relations between teens and parents’. There was also a panel discussion organised by Qatar Debates for students, which was moderated by Dr Ilham Badr.
The Peninsula
