UmmuEven though the society is full of women parading themselves at all fronts, aspiring to become the next rulers of the world, all that is regarded as women emancipation and attainment of absolute freedom for the female gender today, it is very saddening to note that the fundamental roles of every mother are mostly failed.
Most parents have lost their primary roles to the secondary, and the vacuum is adversely being felt. The reason why youths of this generation are short of intrinsic etiquettes and moral standards is nothing but the fact that they are not well doctored from home.
The modern world has subjected most young ones to counter-productive parental guides. And in spite of all attempts by education, movies, books and lectures from both traditional and modern institutions to address this menace, the situation rather to improve, is getting worse! This piece is an impelled reaction to an article I read recently on Parenting.
From what I read, I must say categorically that the issue of parenting needs to be well checked and re-addressed as a matter of urgency. Whenever a child is found misbehaving, he’s always examined from the background. Even those that are seen to be performing encouragingly well, the point of reference still remain their parental corner. When parents (mothers particularly) who are saddled with the responsibility of feeding young ones with good mannerisms by taking them by their hands in order to embed them with endearing moral values are missing on duty, then what do we expect of the future?
The greatest concern to every mother now is their career. Every woman wants to become more than a cook and a baby-producing factory. Everyone is desirous to become CEO, Landlady and President. Some even want to become husbands of other women; Imagine! By all these however, we uncontrollably loose our wards to wallow in abject lack of proper welfare and the parental upbringing every child is due to get from home.
In the name of westernization and unruly civilizations, our morals are sub-changed, or bluntly saying, lost. Yet the African society which is globally known for rich cultures and moral standards isn’t seeing it as a big deal. We are unconsciously being carried away by modernity to the extent that our mother tongues are all fading into extinction!
Sadly, I know of many parents who brag about their children’s inability to communicate in their mother tongue. The reason is not far-fetched; we all want our children to be the most adorable speakers of the colonial language. Several times I’ve come to ask them, does that in anyway enhance their productivity as promising youths of our nations? Does it even make them infallible writers or the best grammarians? I doubt it!
I doubt if there are any writers in Nigeria who have surpassed the remarkable feats of the likes of Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe. These models, I must say, have done nothing but used foreign languages to communicate the entrenched values of our land to the world. Upon their exposure and global experience, they refused to sell their rights to any foreign culture.
Dear reader, the only way to revive our homes and return it a productive classroom that is firstly contacted by every single child is to ensure that the new generation parents get back to their primary obligation. No woman is stopped from attaining heights of successes in life, but immediately that comes at the expense of our future generations, then the success is vain.
Every mother must take up the responsibility of educating their children/wards, instilling enviable morals in them, spending good and quality time with them, showing them the path of God and exemplifying imitable characters for them to imbibe. Parents of this century must stop trading their maternal responsibilities for career goals. Ensuring a fulfilling future for the youth of this generation is a worthy career every woman must pursue!
Afeez Azeez
The writer is right in some essence. But the fact remains that having a career and a good home is achievable, only if the mother is lazy. I tell you, I know someone who is a stay at home mom but her children lacks manner. I mean, the only responsibility she has to to care for the home, yet, she failed in the mannerism aspect of it. We have women who have their career and their home is good, it all depends on the person.
And as for the parents speaking foreign language to their children, it never ever makes sense to me. Why should I speak foreign language to my child when no foreigners will speak my language to theirs. It is a common sense thing, my parents never speak English to me and I am a good speaker and writer of it. Nigerians should take a cue from Spanish people. Spanish speaking folks don’t speak English to their kids, and at the long run, the children speaks Spanish and English making bilingual.
Thank you very much for the observation! You are very right about mothers who stay back at home and fail to instill good morals in their children. However, this piece is aimed at correcting parents especially mothers, who place career above parenting. Thanks!
This is an awesome piece and a very serious subject matter. I personally think ladies should hold off on giving birth to children, if they feel their career is so important and they can not handle both motherhood and their career simultaneously. If you are going to do something, do it right!
Native parents speaking English Language to their kids with the hope that they’d understand it better, is a concept I’ll never understand. I guess they think their kids will be more fluent if they use it as their first language, but what they don’t know is that understanding a language has very little to do with how smooth it rolls off your tongue.
We are Nigerians! and sadly we live in a world where we have to speak English, like it or not. All we can ask for is that when you do speak English, speak it like a Nigerian. Stop with all the British accent “sh!t” and American accent “crap”.
Women are the “pillar of the home”, if they fail in their duties, how would future husbands take care of themselves or their children when their wives are not around? African women are strong, they can simultaneously manage their home and career. There are very good examples of successful women around Africa but there are also many stories of broken homes.
We are gradually loosing our cultural heritage so I’m not surprised if the colonial language takes precedence over our mother tongues but how do we get out of this mess?