One thing that many of us keep saying is that we don’t want our children to go through the same kind of upbringing that we did. We want better for them and we want to expose them to more opportunities than we ourselves were exposed to. And these are good things, at least they come from a good place.
Our parents did what they thought was best for us, and I’m certain that they were also trying to do better than what their parents did. And if you go back in time, tracing your family tree, you’ll see that every generation keeps trying to do better. And better.
But then, when you look at the children of nowadays, are parents of these days really doing any better? There are some children that will be so disrespectful these days that you can’t help but wonder from which kind of home they could possibly come from. They’re not trained at home, and even worse, many of them are enabled by the very same parents who should keep them in check.
There are children who will mess up, and you as a concerned citizen would report them to their parents, thinking they’ll get their kids in order. But you’ll be wrong because it’ll be as if you’re declaring war on their family! Instead of them to focus on your complaint, they’ll instead make it seem as if you’re faulting their parenthood skills. It’s really crazy.
The Nigerian rapper, Erigga made a post on X that said that a lot of the things that our parents did to us back in the day made us think they hated us, it’s only now that we’re realizing how life-saving they had been. And when you think about it, there’s a lot of wisdom in those words. If we had a lot of the lee way that children of nowadays possess, I don’t think many of us would be where we are today.
Many of us were bright academically simply because being otherwise wasn’t an option. When playing, we had to take special care because we knew that if we took it too far, there would be hell to pay from our parents. It was the same reason many of us found it hard to cause trouble because we knew that if for any reason the news went back to our parents, we would be in hot soup.
I’m not saying that everything our parents did was right, I know that many of them went too far in their idea of “disciplining” their kids. But then, looking at where we are today, a byproduct of our upbringing, can we honestly say it’s not because of all that? No… we can’t. What our parents did to us was definitely not roses and violets, but it got the job done. However, seeing how hurtful those things can be, we’ve decided that we’d raise our kids differently.
And as a result, we have the kind of kids we have today. I’ve seen a mother who can’t even talk to her child simply because of how rude the boy is. He’s just 12 years old and he shouts at her, walks out on her mid-conversation, and slams the door in her face. He’s just 12. How will he be when he’s 18? What kind of children are we raising in this generation?
Or are we shielding them too much from the adversities of life? Maybe allowing them to solve a problem or two on their own will remind them that in life, there are stages to everything. The only people who will love them unconditionally are their parents and the rest of the world won’t really care about them. This might sound cruel, but it’s the truth. It’s amazing how many people have this main character mentality, thinking that the world revolves around them and as a result when they sneeze, everyone should scream “Bless You”!
Honestly, this post is not really to say anything in particular. I just wanted to share my thoughts, that’s all. I’m not a parent yet, so I can’t even dare to say that I know anything about parenthood. You all that have managed to bring up great kids in this awful world really deserve your flowers, I know it’s not easy and it’s a job that never ends. It’s because of good parents that not all the kids these days are bad. There are still really good kids that just make your heart warm and gooey.
Like a little girl on a bus I entered one time. Her mom (pregnant) wanted to lap her, but the girl said she wanted to stand instead because she didn’t want to inconvenience the mom. It was going to be a long trip and the mom had to beg the girl to lap but the girl kept insisting that she would stand. It was a really sweet scene and the back and forth between mother and child caught the attention of a passenger in front who offered to pay for the girl’s seat. So, she sat through the journey instead of standing or being on her mother’s lap.
Children like these make you believe that truly the world still has hope. There will still be those who care about others and as long as people like this girl exist, there will always be good in the world.