A warm welcome

There was a buzz of excitement today at St Stephen’s Nursery as a special guest arrived to chat with the bright-eyed boys and girls at the Black Rock school.

Happy, smiling faces greeted Prime Minister Mia Mottley and other Government officials as they visited the school now celebrating 25 years of providing early childhood education to the children of Barbados.

The children listened attentively as she shared some life lessons with them. The Prime Minister identified the golden rule of “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you” and working together, as two key principles that all, including children, should live by.

“If you live by those two rules, you will get through life a lot better off than those who ignore those rules,” she said.

She told the children that they should not engage in practices that they would not like for themselves.

“If you want someone to be kind to you, then you need to be kind to each other. The reason [for] the golden rule is that if we live by it with each other … then everybody starts to live good together and you don’t get the anger and bad feelings that make you feel somebody is trying to unfair you…. Learning to live together in love and harmony is what will help to make you good Barbadian citizens,” she told the excited children.

Mottley noted that sometimes persons could not do certain things on their own, and needed help. She stressed that nothing was wrong with asking for that assistance.

“When we decide that we are going to work together… what we could not do alone now becomes easy; hence we have the saying many hands make light work,” she explained. Ms Mottley encouraged the young ones to listen to, and obey their teachers, who loved them dearly.

At the end of the Prime Minister’s address, students Sariah Forde and Mechai King presented Ms Mottley with a token of appreciation.

Those attending the event included Acting Minister of Education, Technical and Vocational Training, Senator Lucille Moe; Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Elder Affairs and People Empowerment, Neil Rowe; Principal Sonia Barker; and Senior Education Officer, Dr Christina Morris.  (BT/BGIS)