Personality-building key to a good child

Excessive use of technology and disorderly family backgrounds have damaged the modern generation, counsellors warn.

“Nowadays, children are more exposed to video games that have violent content like killing. Such violence is embedded in the subconscious mind of a young child and could surface any moment, with the child converting it into a real-life situation,” child counsellor Safra Rimas said, adding that the age of 12 was the particular focus of psychologists.

Ms. Rimas said many parents paid insufficient attention to their offspring and this put the children, particularly boys, at risk.

She emphasised that while a child can be medically treated for psychological matters, this would only produce a chemical reaction.

“A child should be taught to be compassionate from a very young age and personality-building is a key factor for a growing child to face society,” she said.

Commenting on the incident of the schoolboy who murdered another boy in Matara this month (see main story), Ms Rimas said: “For a child of that age to have the courage to kill is something very wrong. It may have arisen due to the bad exposure he has experienced in society.”