Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Mrs. Cecilia Bolaji Dada has said that the war against domestic violence must be jointly fought by parents, schools and society as a whole.

Dada made the call on Wednesday at a symposium organised by the Domestic Violence Unit of the Ministry with the theme, “Parents as Social Agents of Change”.

The Commissioner said that parents must play a crucial role in curbing domestic violence, appealing that they should set good examples for children by avoiding behavioural patterns that can set the young ones on the path destruction.“Parenting as an art is not limited to the biological parents of a child alone; rather, it is a tripartite phenomenon sitting on a three-legged stool.

This stool consists of the home, the school and the society at large, as what is fed into the child from the home front is what is taken to the larger society,”

Dada stated.While noting quarrels and disagreements are inevitable in some homes, Dada urged parents and other relevant stakeholders to make conscious efforts to shield children away from such fracas whenever they arise.According to Dada, the symposium was aimed at guiding parents against becoming a negative influence in the lives of their children and wards.In her words;

“I wish to state here that we do not encourage war or fighting in our homes, we are peace ambassadors. But then, as humans, challenging issues might arise from time to time, we disagree to agree. But when there are disagreements, let us avoid violence and also learn to shield our young ones from such challenging issues.”She advised both parents and young ones to engage themselves productively and avoid idleness at all cost, stressing that “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”.