This question was a result of some stories
featured on his programme concerning missing children and the need for parents
to ensure they are aware of their children and wards’ whereabouts per time,
especially when those children are still living with them.
This question has become much more
important today because there are more reasons to ensure parents know the physical
and psychological whereabouts of their children today than there was over a
decade ago.
CHILD
TRAFFICKING
This vice has been on the rise in recent
times. Children of ages six to about thirteen or older, are sold for child
labour purposes, prostitution and rituals. Sometimes it appears it is only
street children that are vulnerable to this. However examples now abound where
children who have homes have been kidnapped for trafficking. Some are said to
have been lured by certain edibles while some are forcefully taken away.
SOCIAL MEDIA
This happens when children are stuck to any
of the social media sites on their phones and tablets, without knowing what is
going on in their environment. This could be by chatting with friends on those
plat forms or simply reading other people’s posts. Parents should to some level
monitor their children’s use of these communication/entertainment tools to
avoid abuse by their children.
VIDEO
GAME
Some Children give attention to video game
much more than they do to their school books. Some also avoid playing with
friends because of video games. It is one of the areas of escape for children
who do not get their parents’ attention. Parents should learn to give attention
to their children and even become their friend so that the children would not
seek solace in such things they should only use for recreation per time.
TELEVISION
When some children get so use to particular
programmes on some television channels, they tend to always want to watch such
programmes, sometimes to the detriment of some household chores assigned to
them. Recently a colleague of mine told me he had decided not to renew the
cable television subscription in his home. When I enquired why, he said it was
because his ten year old son only watched hip hop music channels and does not
even allow the younger siblings to watch other channels they would want to
watch. He said the situation was now affecting his attention to his academic
work
PEER
PRESSURE
When children have several friends, they
tend to be under pressure to want to hang out with them even at odd times. This
may not be detrimental if such friends are wisely chosen and are not so much.
If they choose friends without restrain, the danger is that they may get some
wrong friends whose association with them would not be helpful. The bottom line
is, invest intellectually and morally in your children and make them know they
have value in themselves to add to others. That way, they would be influencing
their friends positively rather than they being influenced negatively.
Parents are largely responsible for what
their children become in life. Such responsibility should not be abdicated to
teachers in schools and in religious places of worship. You can know where your
children are in these aspects and more if you hold yourself accountable for
their upbringing and therefore take the effort to inculcate in them right
values. If they grow having the right values, they would place all these
demands where they belong. They would use them for the purposes they were made
and not allow these things become unnecessary distractions.
Talks
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