Is there a parenting crisis going on in the world right now, or else, how can one digest the news about an 18 year old shop apprentice impregnating 10 women in 5 months?
I initially thought of ignoring the salacious news coming out from the various blogs. This was so until I read the impassioned plea for help from a high government official in Anambra state on the matter.
This is the principal issue we will be unpacking this week.
The story of the young father exposes the parenting crisis in the world of anything goes, social media, unbridled freedom of expression and conduct.
An 18 year old apprentice is supposedly under the tutelage of his employer and senior apprentices.
He is expected to be under strict work regimen and duty of care from his senior handlers. His work and private times are thus highly regimented as other training institutions.
One wonders how he’s alleged to have impregnated the daughter of his boss and someone else during his brief training time.This we learned earned his quick dismissal from the enterprise.
In times past, this should have been a wake up call for his family elders to handle him differently. His family dynamics could have been porous and lackadaisical to encourage this societal dissonance.
What beggars disbelief is how the young lad can unload these children into the world without adequate preparation? Can possession of high libido be a prerequisite for fatherhood?
All his paramours we learnt are underdeveloped in critical indices of life. We’re told that almost all the expectant mothers are unemployed in need parenting guidance themselves.
Is it not time to declare a state of emergency for family life?
Shouldn’t we all go back to basics in Africa by deliberately bringing back the oversight functions of community, extended family members?
This isolated situation of me and my family alone seems to be failing our society. Western civilization and high technology seem to have cast dark spells on the socialisation of our children.
In times past, it took a whole village to raise a family. You had uncles, aunties, cousins, grandparents, neighbours all chipping in to raise the children.
Children were disciplined at will in the absence of their parents without fear of reprisal.
But what do we have now? There are tales of some parents storming schools to assault teachers for discipline of their children. There are stories of parents hiring people to take examinations for their children. Some also pay humongous fees to special centres for examinations of their children.
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Now the chicken has come home to roost and everyone seem to be affected by the carelessness of a few.
People, parenting cannot be outsourced to AI, social media, government or schools alone.
Parenting is not a casual walk in the park. Lives depend on it.
Parenting is not glamorous, it’s hard work that has to be done 24/7.
I’m pained when I sight little children as little as 3 years decked out in flimsy clothes, long braids, heavy makeup
on social media as brand ambassadors. Such practice is awful as children should be allowed to be children.
Another fad is the issue of enrollment of underage children in higher institutions.
What’s the point of a 15 year old girl/boy in university without emotional intelligence and social skills to navigate that journey? A mother recently cried out on Facebook about the disappearance of her son from university. Only to learn later that he had left school on his own volition to carry out betting and drinking.
There’s indeed a Parenting crisis.
Please join this conversation, send your comments and feedback on this and other topics to mooborscounsellingroom@gmail.com
By Mubo Okosun
Women’s Editor
