Well, it must certainly have been an eventful day for Marija Hammett and her PM-shadowing schedule. Given all the drama heading our way from Parliament yesterday evening, I'll bet you anything that the prime minister must have ever so slightly regretted agreeing to carry out the spin exercise on this particular day.

Those of you expecting me to go into the JPO/JM saga will be disappointed. I'm getting bored of the whole thing, quite frankly. Motions for the resignation of X or Y have become rather like the proverbial tray of cheesecakes and have (shamefully) lost the significance that they had in other times. Which doesn't say much about those responsible for bringing them forth.

But that's by the by. I actually wanted to write about the proposal that earnt Mrs Hammett her day with Dr Gonzi: "parents should be given greater assistance in the upbringing of their children through compulsory parenting skills for couples".

The proposal created havoc across social media. Some called it stupid. Others called it arrogant, a waste of time, a denial of parental rights and plenty other names. What utter hogwash. The idea needs refining, of course, but then again providing a logistically perfect and fully-functional framework probably was not part of the competition rules, so let's cut Mrs Hammett a bit of slack here.

Rather understandably, the loudest sniggers emanated from parents who are probably doing a pretty good job raising their kids without any state interference (I can write this because I happen to be acquainted with some of them).

Well, I'm sorry folks but you really shouldn't be the ones to talk – just because you are doing well at raising Junior into a well-adjusted and (hopefully) well-behaved citizen, it doesn't mean that the rest of Malta is necessarily following suit.

A hefty percentage of the population does need a nudge in the right direction when it comes to children's discipline, motivation, manners and the like. If you think I'm exaggerating, all you need to do is look around you.

I know I've already written about all this, but it's not just children with no concept of basic manners that are cause for concern. Yes, there are many of them, and yes rude children grow into rude adults... but there's more to it.

For starters, there are all the stressed out parents who have no clue how to discipline their children and who alternate between spoiling them shamelessly and yelling out "inkissirlek snienek" (I'll break your teeth) when their kid makes a fool of them in public. I'm sure that's not found anywhere on the parenting manual.

I'm also pretty sure that a quick vox pop among struggling parents will reveal that the idea is not as risible as many are making it out to be. You don't even need to make it compulsory – just offer a free advisory helpline and classes at convenient hours and the deal is done.

Making something "ta' bil-fors" will get parents' heckles up; it gets regarded as an inconvenience and chances are that it does more harm than good. However, offering a free and totally optional service gets you smiles all around. And hopefully it also gets us children with better manners and less stressed out parents. Conclusion: what's not to like about parental courses?

PS – I still believe that the whole Be Prime Minister for a Day wossit was a hilarious piece of spin. But since I've long accepted that spin is part and parcel of political life, might as well give a nodding glance to the proposal that clinched the deal. At least it stops it from being a complete waste of time, right?

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