Parents and Guardians: The Children Needs You
- Constance Ogonna Egwuatu
- Feb 4, 2022
- 2 min read
Cases of: Rape, killings for ritual, kidnapping, robbery, drug abuse and other vices perpetrated by the teenagers/youth in Nigeria are on the increase and there seems to be no end in sight.
Questions
There are a few pertinent questions that everyone should be asking now and they are:
1. What is happening to the family value system?
2. Do we now have only absentee parents or parents by proxy?
3. Are parents knowingly or unknowingly encouraging their children into crime for their benefit?
4. Are parents’ constant comparison of their children to others pushing them into crime in a bid to leave up to their parent's expectations?
5. Do religious bodies or organisations fail to constantly remind parents and guardians of their roles and responsibilities to the children?
6. Are parents still in control of their children or is it the other way round?
Pay Attention
These young people are becoming desperate and now make YOU the victim or sacrificial lamb when they fail to get one outside. Have you not seen the recent cases of young men trying to kill their mothers for ritual? They have lost their conscience, have no sympathy and have become emotionless. The cases are rising and something urgent needs to be done.
Useful Tips
You might find these tips helpful in saving the children from crime and other vices:
1. Please start early by being more involved in your child's life starting from birth.
2. Don't be too busy that you’ll always leave everything about raising your children to your domestic staff.
3. Punish or reward as often as required. They are both useful tools in enforcing good behaviour.
4. Don't ever get tired and never be ashamed to seek external or professional help when the need arises.
5. Do not make unrealistic demands of your children and stop all forms of baseless comparison.
6. Probe and report any suspicious behaviour. Don't cover up for him or her.
7. Avoid accepting gifts or celebrating your child's sudden wealth without first asking how it was made.
8. You are free to pray and seek God's help in raising the child but never fall into that trap of "leaving everything to God." Take necessary physical action while also seeking spiritual intervention.
9. Don't be under pressure from anyone to stay silent or do nothing even when you are supposed to take action because you want to protect your child from stigma.
10. Avoid any form of verbal or physical abuse as this may make that child not open up to you.
Remember
You or someone close will soon be the victim if we don't take action and start doing the right thing or correct the existing wrong.
With the tips above and more, we should be on the right path to stemming this tide and securing the right future for our children.
Consistency is one of the key elements needed to raise a child right.
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