Hello folks! It’s your girl again… This week i bring you a mind blowing topic on parenting. Let us give it up for our ever amazing parents that are taking up the task of raising their kids. Parenting is so vast; hence, it is a topic that cannot be covered just in a day. It is a process – a work in progress. For the parents that are doing it right, kudos to you… For the ones that are not getting it right somehow, I hope you will go back to the drawing board after reading this. This is not to bring any parent(s) down; every parent whether single or married, you are just amazing.

To the single parents, you guys rock! Different people have different opinion concerning parenting. In my opinion, I think parenting is the mandate to support, promote, protect and nurture the physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Every parent(s), whether biological or non biological have been given this mandate, they are the caretakers in child development. As a parent, you should ask yourself “Am I raising the child to see a positive result in him/her in the near future or is it the other way round”? This should be the question at the back of parents’ mind, as long as parenting is concerned because children are like seeds; they germinate and bear fruits of your desired specie of plant.

Presently, it is obvious that there is generally a low level of discipline and morality in our society. It is indeed disheartening that indiscipline is now the order of the day amongst teenagers, all thanks to the adults and some parents who in one way or the other contribute in taking away the innocence of this young generation. Some parents in the name of being fashionable expose these kids to provocative lifestyles. In this social media age, I see adults expose kids to a lot of uncomfortable lifestyles like dressing children up especially the girl – child in provocative manner as though they were adults, putting heavy make-up on them and considering it “trending” A couple of weeks ago, I overheard a lady telling her friends that she was “enjoying” the movie “spartacus” with her kids and there was power interruption (thank God for NEPA o! because they saved the situation. Lol) then i asked myself how old are these kids? Let me guess…. around age 5 to 10 considering how young they looked. Spartacus? Apparently, she does not know the magnitude of the “gunpowder”she is gathering until it explodes.

On a more serious note, movies should be censored, Yes! You heard right. Parents must adhere strictly to parental control functions of every movie. Not all television programs are children – friendly, let there be some restrictions in watching TV especially programs that have violence, erotic scenes and strong languages. Sacrifice the time you use to watch adult channels like telemundo, E! etc to watching kiddies shows with them. Help them nurture interest for educative shows.

Children are adventurous in nature, they are good observers, they love doing what adults do. It is no news that pornography is so common among youths these days. The rate Of immorality is alarming in our society as most of the children grow up without imbibing the desirable qualities of honestly, humility, self – respect, integrity and respect for the dignity of labour. A picture of two under-aged kids having sex was trending on social media sites last week (i nukwa akuko?). For Heaven’s sake, something is wrong some where; perhaps they’ve unfortunately seen their parents do it or who knows, it could be some things they have seen on TV.

Am not trying to be a critic here but in my own opinion, one room apartment is not the best home to raise children because there are challenges that come with it. When you think of getting married, you are equally thinking of having kids. So a room apartment is not the ideal place to raise children. In addition, some parents seem not concerned about where their kids get some material /monetary gifts from. You see a so-called “uncle” admiring an under-aged girl and her mother will proudly boast to her friends that men give her under-aged daughter gifts because of her beauty instead of bragging about her academic performance, i hope you know that sexual molesters and child traffickers are on rampage. Sadly, present day parent(s) pay little or no attention to their only task of bringing up their children because they claim to be career-driven parents, relinquishing their duties to household employees. I saw on the social media few weeks ago, a case of an elderly man, employed specially for school-runs who was caught pant – down having sex with a girl that should be under his protection…. Who knows how long this has been going on before they were caught.

Hmmm! Odikwa risky Placing excessive emphasis on making money to the detriment of your children. Consequently, today’s parents (Digital parents) are different from the olden days’ parents. “Digital mums/dads” do not beat their kids rather, they send them to “naughty corners” when they misbehave. The olden days parents would reset your brain with corrective whipping if you dare try to go astray. Often, some parents are like “i don’t beat my kids because it took me good 8years before they started coming, story! (read proverb 22:6). Please, please and please don’t fail as a parent no matter the obstacle even if it took you decades to have them because God entrusted in your care those little angels for you to take care of them, correct them, lead them by example, cherish them, pamper them but not spoiling them to avoid living in perpetual anguish as failed parent(s). CHEERS!!!

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