Parenting: Now and then
Hi guys! Great week prompt, I must confess: parenting now versus then. I will gladly give kudos to all parents both the old ones and the modern ones, because parenting is not a joke. It's a highly revered job. I know you all will agree with me that, it is not enough to give birth, good parentage crowns it all, and it is not limited to just one of the parents but the two.
In fact, leaving parenting job to just one of the parents is the number one problem then and now. It should be work of both parents if they want the child to come out well. It shouldn't be a situation where one is pushing and the other is pulling, but an harmonious exercise.
However, talking about then and now in parenting. I still prefer and salute the parenting style of our great fathers and mothers in the olden days. Even though it used seem they were too strict, the virtues they instilled in us are still very evident. They used cane on children as and when due. That's not wickedness because kids must be kids, with some annoying behaviors at times. So, they corrected it before it got out of hands. Even the Holy Bible supported the use of cane to correct a child. It wouldn't kill them, but instill the fear of the Lord in them that discouraged them not to try nonsense again.
In recent times, it's not like that. Parents don't use or rarely use cane these days. They believe children should not be beaten, that they would change as they grow. Many are inculcating wester parenting style to train their wards, even on African soil. While we know teachers no longer chastise these children in school, parents also keep their canes at home and many of them end up spoilt brats and disrespectful. I can boldly say, I'm who I am today because my parents didn't without their cane when they needed to use it. I remember the kind of beating I got the day I took home what didn't belong to me. Oh my God! That beating reset my entire brain and reminds me till today that I don't take what doesn't belong to me. While I don't support regular beating of a child, we can't withhold cane when need be.
Body language, this was well known with olden days parents. They don't joke with body language in training a child. They made use of their eyes, legs, hands and their heads to pass information to their children. No wonder children raised by this kind of parents, " omo Odo agba" are referred to wise children. You don't have to open wide your mouth before they know what you are saying. They were good at decoding all kinds of signs, which save them most times from troubles and calamities. Hmm, nothing concern modern day parents o, they rarely train their ward with body language, this made some children to be very foolish. They don't know what to do or what you are saying no matter how hard you wink your eyes or match their toes. Most of these children by this great parents will still ask you before the visitors, why you are matching them, or ask if something entered your eyes, with the way you are winking at them. It is that bad that many take and eat what they shouldn't because couldn't understand any other non verbal language.
In the olden days, parents raised their children with so much love. They used to do a lot of things in common to the extent of eating together on the same plates at night. That really helped them in creating a very strong bond without jealousy.
Nowadays, it's the opposite for parents. Modern days parents treat the kids separately, making it obvious the ones they love the most. I regretted the day I visited my sister, and tried to dish my three nephews food together. They strongly opposed my idea, that they could not eat together. And when I insisted on letting them see how fun it was, they ended up beating one another to stupor. It was so hard for them to do things together. Everyone wanted privacy. No wonder the bond between siblings is no more strong in recent times. Then, brother betraying was not that common like now, that they don't even trust one another. I really love and prefer the parenting in the 80s to what we have now.
This is my entry to the hivenaija weekly prompt.
Thanks for reading.
Picture sourced from metaAi
Posted Using INLEO