The news about the setting up of the Inter-Ministry Committee on Drug Prevention for Youths is most welcome, particularly the focus on drug prevention efforts in homes through parents (New inter-ministry committee to look into drug use among youth, May 5).

We should not rely on a policing and supervision strategy only. That should be secondary. The primary strategy is to help parents understand the importance of bonding and generating a healthy relationship with their children.

Parents need to create a healthy family environment, and to teach their children the importance of developing healthy social relationships and habits.

Parents need to keep abreast of their children’s stages of development – pre-teen through to the post-teenage years – and understand their children’s anxieties, vulnerabilities and behaviours as they grow up.

Ultimately, the best way for children to stay away from trouble is to create a parent-child relationship that will encourage them to seek their parents’ guidance when they might be exposed to harmful habits, such as drug and alcohol use, porn addiction, smoking, gaming, gambling and associating with gangs.

The Government and employers can play a significant role in helping parents create an environment at home that helps nurture such healthy, happy and productive family relationships, by offering better work-life balance and flexible work arrangements that prioritise family bonding.

Frank Singam