COUNSELLOR TASKS PARENTS ON PROPER UPBRINGING OF CHILDREN
Mrs Naomi Akpan, a social Counsellor, on Monday advised parents on proper upbringing of their children to ensure a better and responsible nation.
Akpan, who is also a school teacher, gave the advice in an interview with the Nigeria News Agency in Kuje Area Council, Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
She said that proper upbringing was important, as it predicts how children perform in the domains of social competence, psycho-social development, academic performance and problem behaviour.
According to her, there is need to equip parents with the knowledge and skills needed to take on the responsibility of parenting the 21st century children.
“When trained, children mix up with the untrained ones; the peer group influence affects them negatively, and the home is where it starts from, and it is not good.
“Even at the primary school level, the spirit of cultism, lesbianism and homosexuality has eaten deep at that age; and that is terrible to the society.
“The threat is from the parents; for instance, if a girl wears an unfit dress and the mother allows her to go out like that, it does not speak well of the family.
“In this 21st century, even when you, as a neighbour, see indecent dressing and try to talk to the child, the parents ask ‘who sent you?” she said.
Akpan noted that bad parenting was responsible for most of the challenges confronting the nation today, adding that positive parenting will help develop a child.
According to her, parents have a vital role to play in defining how every society grows, and the kind of values transmitted at the family level defines the quality of every society.
“It is no longer a trend when we flog, detain or expel a child from school, for misbehaving; rather, we should persuade and make them understand.
“Everyone has a role to play in the society, including the security agencies, churches, mosques and the traditional rulers.
“My advice is that parenting starts from you; so, you have to actually become the kind of person you want your child to become.
“But the parents have a greater role to play through proper upbringing and adequate discipline, to have a better nation,” she advised.
Akpan, however, lamented that the Nigerian parenting style had changed, saying that the parenting style today seems to be more loose and lenient.
“The problem we face as a society is because we have failed at the individual and family levels; in our own capacity, we can do more to change the narrative.”
Besides, Akpan advised parents, who leave their children at the care of maids, to strike a balance by giving adequate attention to know them better.
The counsellor noted that kids, who were not properly informed, were at greater risk of engaging in unsafe behaviours and experimenting with drugs.
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