A man from Salimu Fagaloa, Tanielu Satiu, has poured cold water on the movement to promote the rights of children.

Speaking to the Village Voice, he said these new ideas are responsible for a growing population of rebellious young people who think they know best.

And this is reflected in the number of school dropouts, youth street vendors and increase in violence among young people as they refuse to take advice from their elders.

These are just some trending issues that exist with young people and are of great concern. 

Tanielu believes that the first institution that should educate a child is the family.

“A lot has been happening lately regarding youths and I think it all comes down to their families and how they have been brought up,” he said.

“The Bible says to teach them while they are young, when they grow old they will always remember.”

Tanielu said encouraging children’s rights is misleading most Samoan youths nowadays.

“There is no such parent who smacks their children for no good reason,” he said.

“And I think that’s the reason we have seen so many young people ending up in prison because they have lost respect in the way they were brought up by.”

Tanielu Satiu also thinks the youths nowadays have lost respect for their elders and parents.

“If we look at it closely, things have changed nowadays because the youths have lost so much respect for their parents.

“When they get scolded, they will answer back and talk back like they know everything.”

This is why Tanielu says children’s rights have affected the growth and development of our youths.

“It’s because children’s rights highlight that it is wrong to discipline kids by smacking them.”

We all come from families where we are taught values to uphold in life but things changed when children are being misled about their rights, Tanielu added.

And that, he said, was the changing point from being an innocent young person to one who was being influenced by external pressures other than the family.