He called for maintaining "social barriers" to confront destructive ideas

A social researcher warns of the decline of fathers' authority within the family

Focusing on the financial side doubled the pressure on parents.

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The Director of the Family Cohesion Department at the Community Development Authority in Dubai, Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Hammadi, confirmed the existence of several challenges facing the stability of the Emirati family, most notably the decline in the authority of fathers over children within the family, warning of reaching the stage of losing control over them.

He added, "Social media has brought us many challenges and destructive ideas, and we must maintain the social barriers on which we grew up, to confront and overcome them," referring to the set of inherited Emirati values ​​and customs.

Al Hammadi told «Emirates Today» that there are seven basic challenges: the first lies in the decline in the ability to influence within the family, due to the presence of a group of internal and external variables, most notably the negative impact of social media, and exposure to the open world without awareness, adding that «the decline in control Within the family, it created a weakness in the proper upbringing of generations, and negatively affected the entire family structure.

He continued, "The second challenge lies in the tyranny of perception and material needs, at a time when the elements of family life formation must overlap between the spouses, to combine the spiritual, physical, educational and faith aspects with balanced and complementary standards, but all of this was absent and regressed in the interest of research, and panting after material life." .

He added that the third challenge «resulted from the tyranny of the material factor, which doubled the pressures of life and the preoccupation of parents to meet these material needs, especially with the high costs of living all over the world, which in turn led to an increase in the volume of preoccupation with family affairs due to the necessity of securing living demands.

Al-Hammadi believed that "the fourth challenge is exposure to external influences resulting from the information revolution, which led to the drowning of all family members under abnormal and unhealthy intellectual and material influences, which led to an unhealthy change in the way of thinking and behaving."

He stressed that positive openness is necessary, and therefore it must be codified to support the necessary knowledge and expertise required in establishing the family infrastructure and raising children in the right way, indicating that the fifth challenge is related to uncontrolled openness to the cultures and values ​​that came from inside and outside.

And he considered that "the stronger the building, the stronger its fenders and the more able it is to confront the impact of destructive ideas."

Al-Hammadi considered that the sixth effect is the decline in the impact of the role of each of the school or university and the extended family, as a result of the previous challenges.

He stressed that the absence or weakness of this influence affected the upbringing of the rising generations, and the ability to maintain the cohesion and stability of the family.

The last challenge - according to Al-Hammadi - focused on the change of references and the fading of their influence, referring to the reference of the conscious mother who negatively changes her role, outlook and characteristics, as well as the reference of the faithful teacher and his role and influence on generations, and the reference of the role model of the extended family as a result of the presence of many nuclear families that live outside the grandfather’s house. And grandmother, considering that it is something that can be positive in itself if it does not affect the cohesion of the family.

He compared this to the life of families previously, where the extended family, regardless of problems and challenges, had a positive and important influence. community bonding.

Al-Hammadi presented a set of remedies or strategies capable of facing the family's challenges, including strengthening faith-based education, rather than focusing education on preoccupation with purely material life, stressing the need to revive a system of values ​​and morals that protect sons and daughters, adults and children, and all family members.

He added that among the treatments is also promoting the concept of family bonding, which can be achieved and expressed through parents spending a lot of time with their children to know their needs, ask about them, listen to them, play with them, and share their ideas and hobbies with them.

He stated that parents should be aware of ways to deal with crises and challenges that a husband or wife may be exposed to, and know how to deal with them.

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