The re­al need for all fa­thers to ful­fill their crit­i­cal roles to their chil­dren, es­pe­cial­ly their sons, has not es­caped the no­tice of the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty, a re­la­tion­ship it views as be­ing cru­cial to any long-term so­lu­tion to the prob­lems of crime and de­viant be­hav­iour. The Min­istry recog­nis­es that many young men have been per­pe­tra­tors of crimes, and that crime is in­flu­enced by a se­ries of fac­tors, one of which is the ab­sence of pos­i­tive par­ent­ing of male chil­dren, specif­i­cal­ly, the ab­sence of fa­thers and fa­ther fig­ures, as the pos­i­tive role mod­els. Fa­thers con­tin­ue to play a unique and cru­cial role in nur­tur­ing and guid­ing a child's de­vel­op­ment.

Un­der the aus­pices of Pres­i­dent George Maxwell Richards, the Min­istry will be host­ing a na­tion­al Fa­ther­hood Fair on Sat­ur­day, at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um from 1 to 6 pm. The theme of the event is Sup­port­ing our Fa­thers–Nur­tur­ing and Em­pow­er­ing Our Fam­i­lies. Con­cep­tu­alised by the Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty, John Sandy, the event is ex­pect­ed to at­tract ap­prox­i­mate­ly 10,000 fa­thers/guardians and their charges of all ages, and is linked to the Na­tion­al Men­tor­ship Pro­gramme, which is cur­rent­ly be­ing im­ple­ment­ed by the Min­istry.

This fair is in­tend­ed to sen­si­tise and cre­ate aware­ness among the na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty about the es­sen­tial role of fa­thers in their chil­dren's lives, and to re­store a sense of fam­i­ly and com­mu­ni­ty val­ues in the na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty.Ac­tiv­i­ties for fa­thers and their sons will in­clude crick­et, small goal, bas­ket­ball hoop shootout, tug of war, horse-back rid­ing, face paint­ing and boun­cy cas­tle for the kids. Guest artistes and speak­ers will in­clude Kes the Band, Max­imus Dan, Mun­gal Pate­sar and son, Earl Brooks and son.