Parenting in a Changing Society

Growing up as a child, I remember how common adults corrected children, including me, anywhere and whenever they saw us behaving wrongly. They don't wait for the biological parents of a child or seek their consent before correcting that child immediately. In my grandma's voice, the society trains children and not only the biological parents of a child. I am wondering if the same thing still applies in our era, but some of my recent experiences so far say otherwise.

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Personally, I have received such corrections from both men and women while growing up as a child and a teenager, and I see no wrong in that. If an adult corrects my child in public too, I don't think it's a problem. It's simple; I am not always with my children wherever they go, so definitely I am not there to do my job as a parent, but it looks good that another parent or adult corrects my child immediately when a wrong deed is done by him. In fact, if you are my friend and you see my child behaving badly anywhere without correcting him, I wouldn't regard you as a good friend.

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Instilling morals in the lives of our children should be something that we do constantly, even if that child has grown to teenagers and to an age old enough to get married. That's why I kept saying that parenting is a continuous journey; I don't think there's a stage in the lives of my children that I will say, Oh, I am finally done. Now, you can mix with society and behave yourself; whatever you do is on your head because I have trained you enough. No, this role is a continues one, provided that you are in and intentional about raising responsible children who would make you proud in society and not the type that brings shame to your family.

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What inspired me to bring up this topic of discussion today was an experience I had yesterday while at the salon. An aged mother entered into the salon; unfortunately, everywhere was filled up, and there was no vacant seat for her to sit. She looked around and asked one young lady to please stand up a bit while she sat down to rest her weak bones before the owner of the salon made provisions for extra seats. Wow, the response of that lady was too rough to see. She said, Stand up for what! Do I look like your child? I can't stand up for any reason, old woman. Then the woman asked her, It's only a little respect if you really understand that I am old enough to be your grandma. The young lady replied, Respect? Respect you for what?

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As if that heavy word wasn't enough, she started insulting the old woman for asking her to stand up from her seat in the first place. The woman was cold, but after a while, she decided to talk to the young lady politely about the right way to talk to adults, but the lady kept flaring up, making ill statements and warning the woman not to advise her on how to behave as she is not her biological mom.

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I watched the whole thing that transpired, and I was thinking about my children and praying that they don't display such character in public. As I take my time to always talk to my kids about character, instilling morals in their lives, I don't fail to remind them that behaving responsibly does not only end in our home but wherever they find themselves. The thing is that we don't know who may be our destiny helpers tomorrow. What if the adult you insulted out there is actually someone who can be a blessing to your destiny? Even if it's not, it just makes more sense to raise children who would represent us well in society. Children we would be proud of and not the one to go out there and act as if she or he was raised without a parent.

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The experience led me to really review my parenting journey and see if I am still at my duty post. I believe we cannot totally control what these children say or do outside, but the effort we make early enough in their lives will help them to a great extent in living responsibly in our society.

Images are mine