BEIRUT: Making good family decisions requires parents to engage in dialogue with their children, said caretaker Social Affairs Minister Salim Sayegh during a national forum on developing a culture of dialogue and democracy within Lebanese families.

“We are aware that authoritarian [parenting] still exists in Lebanese families, but today parents are being compelled to make decisions regarding their children through dialogue,” said Sayegh.

Organized by the Committee for the Follow-up of Women’s Issues (CFUWI) and the Amman-based Future Institute, the forum aimed to assess the conditions of Lebanese families and the challenges facing them.

Speaking before an audience of activists and sociologists at a Beirut hotel, Sayegh said that families in the country have taken on the role of the state, which has been absent in decades past.