Spending quality time with our families is essential in trying to understand each other. 

And to understand another family member, especially children, constant communication should be the priority of parents. 

So believes Vili Elisaia of Vaitele Fou and Sa’asa’ai, who says most issues occurring in our society today is because of parents getting their priorities wrong.

Vili, a retired policeman, said he believed that parents should always stay connected with their children and to always be aware of their children’s whereabouts.

“Parents nowadays are just letting their kids do whatever they want,” he said.

“The cultural practice of having family prayers in the evening and every morning are not there anymore and kids are just left unattended all the time.”

Vili told the Village Voice team yesterday that family violence was a real threat in Samoa.

“I never thought that this would happen in our country, a biological father raping his own daughter three times.”

“This incident is a wakeup call to us parents to set our priorities right and to spend more time with our children and get to know them more.” 

Vili has four children. Three of his children reside in Australia and one currently lives with him and his wife and is also attending school.

The 57-year-old father said family issues were prevalent nowadays because of pressures put on parents to provide for their families. 

“I think some families here in Samoa are facing family issues because parents have no time for their children and this is because of work to provide for their families,” Vili said. 

“Some parents finish work late and when they come home they just have dinner and sleep, not knowing where there children are.

“Another issue that we are facing is the sudden loss of Samoan value of giving within the communities.

“Back then there’s always a saying in Samoan ‘E mamulu mea I le Fa’amolemole’ but nowadays that cultural value is extinct.”

The sudden loss of cultural values and rituals as such worry Vili.

“I am not trying to educate anyone but it’s my own opinion of what I am seeing in Samoa, and it’s all for the benefit of us all,” he said.