- Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke
All the discussion concerning tolerance and peaceful co-existence cannot ignore the role of parenting. Have you thought about how we are brought up affects our attitude towards others in the society?
- Have noticed that some young people are lacking the spiritual core? I am not talking of religiosity, but the sense of the sacred, the sense of the sublime.
- Have you noticed the decline in values in our society? Imagine the news of an 18-year old who murdered his mum for money ritual purposes. Imagine the 14 year old that was recently caught in robbery. Imagine the school kid that threw a punch at his poor teacher, who was just recovering from a cancer surgery.
- Have you noticed that there is a liberalization of sex and sexual behaviors? Being sexy appears to have become a sign of ‘achievement’ for most young people today.
- Have you noticed the havoc by the social media on the psychology of our young people? Some are lacking self-esteem due to the intake from social media. Some lack self-confidence because they are meant to believe that they want to be like others as projected by the new media.
These are some of the questions that confront us today. Indeed, it is quite a pity that most homes have become very toxic. The reason is not just because of external factors but mainly due to internal reasons. In the context of today, it is thus important to think about the role of parenting. A lot of things rise and fall in our families and societies based on responsible parenting or the lack of it.
While observing that most parents are fatigued by the burden of parenting – since they have to combine it with their daily financial hustle; their personal crisis of identity; their worry about the future of their spouses and kids – we also have to recognize the effort of parents who are defying odds and offering their kids the best they could offer, in terms of responsible parenting.
In terms of tolerance and peaceful co-existence, there needs to be a re-assessment of parenting in such a way that children are brought up in healthy environment filled with love, affirmation, community-consciousness, value for life, honesty, spirituality, and respect for others.
In anticipation of a forthcoming book, The Art of Nurturing: Heads-up for the 21st Century Parent, that addresses some of these issues in an easy methodology, let’s keep the conversation rolling.
Alongside One Another 
Something needs to be done urgently. The future of our soceity is really frightening. Thanks Ikenna and may God bless you immensely
LikeLike
Thanks a lot Fr. We need a lot of re-orientation and training in values, and it surely begins in the family.
LikeLike
This is on point, is good to keep the conversation rolling for parents and children of nowadays. Thank you For.
LikeLike
Thanks a lot ma for the contribution. As I mentioned in the write-up a book that I co-authored will be hitting the stores soon. The focus is on the art of parenting in our world of today. God bless you!
LikeLike
I am very positive this book will go a long way to make the role of parentsing easier. So many things are going wrong with our modern day parents and kids. Thanks Fr Paschal for this move
LikeLike
Thanks a lot, Prof. and Ugoeze for the comment and for your encouragement and resourcefulness. God bless you big. Let’s do the much we can to help salvage our society.
LikeLike
The birth of the new world so called the digital world ( the world at fingertips, simply put the world on the palm or hand) has gone out of hands for we can nolonger have control over the child of our brain (technology). This comes with it birth of many new concepts to drive these, as they are being driven reception definitely can never be the same for each human and non human reality is unique as such relativity theory is evident. For these and more we multiply fundamentals of the human rights as the pope emeritus underlined in his letter of few days on human rights. Hence new human rights are created making the human family more confused and the task of parenting more difficulty with respect to establishing path and giving direction. The opinion leaders should help the young people to understand this fatigue and how best to embrace it faithfully when we decide to do so.
LikeLike
Thanks a lot Bonaventure for your elaborate comment on the challenge we face today. Let’s keep getting the message out there. The world is in need of ‘responsibility’ concerning its future. God bless!
LikeLike
Nice one! Bad parenting affects the child and the society. Parents gets so busy and carried away with work and other activities that they forget their duty towards their children and how important care and attention is to a child at that early stage of life. I think it’s really necessary to awaken the consciousness of modern day parents to their role as potters in the life of their children.
LikeLike
Thanks a lot Thelma for your comment which is a wake-up call for parents today. Let’s keep the consciousness to reverberate in our society by sharing this message. I do hope that the forthcoming book will also help most people in this regard. Thank you and stay blessed.
LikeLike