There she is laughing, asking daring questions, doing thing that her father cannot try in her age. She is in charge of everything, remote set, car keys, phone etc. She dictates the food to be cooked and how she wants it. She determines who she wants to greet and who deserves biscuits- of course the number as well. She calls everyone by name except me. She is two generations away from me but she knows how to construct a bridge to walk over. That is because of her native intelligence.
I am the first child like her, I was free just like her. I have the honour to be trained by my grandmother just like her, but things are different the way they are now from what it was when I was growing up. You dare not ask silly questions- you will collect slaps, you dare not call the elderly by name – you will be rebuked for being disrespectful, you dare not walk by an elderly persons without courtesy- you will collect knock. Every child belongs to the whole community for training, Encouragement , security, impartation of native intelligence and skills.
How time changes, other people cannot touch your children, if they did it will become trouble. Parents now beat up teachers for the disciplines meted out to their children. Community life has failed, no wonder children have become pain to the society that destroyed their virtues.
Despite all those tough trainings called child abuse today, we were better off.
Although I could not hold the TV remote like her, my father did not have television set until I was much older, but we visited our neighbours to watch TV once in a while. Those visits taught us human relationships, respect and tolerance. We had free and quality education, good health care and it was mandatory for us to learn trade or a skill.
It is not that today is not as good as it was then. There are better technologies , better assessments of events, better influences in many quarters but we lost valued culture, language acquisitions and morals. What do you expect from parents who lack integrity, what do you expect a parent who defrauded his friends to build massion to teach his children. How will life be smooth again when you fail to contribute your own positive quota.
Let’s build this nation again, let’s build our future together. Love you always. Shallom.
