KUWAIT: Kuwait will celebrate today its 'Family Day', an occasion which some societies call 'Mother's Day' and one which is observed differently around the globe. The family unit is the foundation of every society, and parents steer the life of every family by providing stable social, psychological, health and religious atmospheres as well as security for their children, to ultimately build a successful family.

The family is the core of society and it is built on sound religious and moral values ... and provides good nurturing of children ... It (family) is a social necessity because the solid construction of the society requires the building of a generation that believes in social culture and contributes to its construction," Dr. Ahmad Al-Bustan, educational administration and planning professor at Kuwait University's College of Education, said.

Al-Bustan said that if families failed to carry out their role properly, it would result in impious children. "The lack of spiritual values" has devastating effects on children, said Al-Bustan.

The professor said Islam had highlighted the role of parents and how children must show respect and be kind to them.

If the individual is raised properly, children will be pious, and impiety comes from the focus of parents on material values and their neglect of spiritual merits," he said. Mothers have their say on conditions of families.

Umm Mohammad, a mother of seven, said she was shocked every time she heard about how impious children were towards their parents. Umm Abdulrahman, a mother of eight, meanwhile attributed impiety to lack of atmosphere love, care and passion within the family and bad friends. The Arab Family Day was celebrated for first time in Egypt in 1956, and then spread in Arab countries. - Kuwait Times