The Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, together with the BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association, is launching an initiative dubbed Family Fridays in hopes of generating some excitement for family time around the dinner table.
Beginning Festival Friday, August 5, and the first Friday of every subsequent month, the occasion is intended to create opportunities and incentives for families to come together and reconnect. Members of households are being challenged to make time to love, laugh, comfort, and support each other in hopes of counteracting some of the social issues affecting society today.
Head of the Family and Juvenile Unit Inspector Kendolph Bobb says families build communities, and over the years, people have become distant and isolated for various reasons. With the resurgence of these extended family get-togethers, there are opportunities to connect, remediate and pass down lost values.
“It was within the large extended family units in our society that we were able to tease out and resolve issues in the home ahead of time. There was a sense of belongership. Counsel and support marriages or unions, shower love on the little ones, and pass on good, long-held values, morals, and traditions to young lives.
“Unfortunately, with the busyness of life, people have grown distant and isolated, and our young men and women, children, and even the elderly are missing the supportive and mentoring networks needed to fill the gaps in building the wholesome and balanced lives of the past. This is evident in the repeated incidences attended by officers with the Force.
“The input of grandparents, uncles, and aunts with children and grandchildren in the mix quickly provided opportunities to flesh out life issues. Long conversations were had around good, home-cooked meals where together issues leading to child abuse, neglect, and deviancy within the teenagers were exposed and stamped out. These gatherings provided the opportunity to pass down values, standards, morals, and ethics to the young boys, girls, and children about attitudes and beliefs that helped to shape their adult lives, “the Inspector noted.
Family members of all ages, nine (9) months to 99 years, are encouraged to gather around the dinner table and engage on the first Friday of every month. To inspire others to do the same, persons can post photos of their gatherings on their Facebook page or the RVIPF Facebook page with the hashtag Family Fridays.
Various restaurants are preparing to offer specials for Family Friday discounted prices for parties over seven who gather at their establishments on Family Fridays as the BVI “Resets Values, Restores Hearts, Together.