The increasing rate of violence, drug abuse and other related vices perpetrated by Nigerian youths calls for the urgent need for Nigerian Christian parents to tend their toddlers in order to save the future of Nigeria and Africa in general.
In view of this development, it has become inevitable for Nigerian Christian parents to invest resources to tend toddlers in their domiciles in order to save themselves from future embarrassment and for the development of this country. It is easier to tend toddlers than mend the youths.
This is my position as a concerned citizen. Instead of throwing a bash for my golden jubilee celebration, I dedicated my 50th birthday celebrations held on July 15 to contribute my quota in addressing this critical issue as a wake-up call to all and sundry in the vineyard and young people across the nations of the world. I enjoin Nigerian Christian parents to teach their children in the way of God.
The role of a family in a society is essentially to teach children skills, morals and values that will help them become better people and will, in turn, allow them to be productive in the society. While children learn skills, values, and ethics from other places later on in life, such as school, work and among friends, the family is the first place where they gain a sense of morality.
A Christian upbringing lays a moral and spiritual foundation in a child. While education aims at developing his mental abilities. These are two different activities. There is no reason to think that education automatically facilitates the moral development of a child.
Married couples who are Christians must always be aware that it is their own responsibility as parents to bring their children up in the love and nurture of the Lord (Proverbs 22:6). People often equate discipline and punishment as being the same thing; it is not. A couple must be united in the disciplines they impact on their family. Punishment only occurs when children flagrantly disobey what they have been clearly told by their parents or not to do. We often discover that when our children understood this; there would rarely be any need for punishment.
“One important family value, which we have built as a discipline has been that we do not argue with each other — the child is taught from an early age to resolve conflict with a right attitude. These issues were often what we talked and prayed about at family altar, and this was how issues were generally settled. Our attitude within the family will reflect on the children we are raising and they will surely follow our pattern and attitude. The scriptures in Ephesians 5:1-2 reads ‘Therefore, imitate God like dearly loved children. Live your life with love, following the example of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us. He was a sacrificial offering that smelled sweet to God.’
“The importance of such a family altar can never be overemphasised. Many have asked us through the years that ‘at what age do you start to pray with your children?’ The truth is that couples should already be praying together before the children start coming, as part of a healthy marriage, so that when children are born, they are brought into the correct environment. If I can tell you about my own growing up, I could recite the whole of Psalm 23 and Psalm 121 even before I could speak clearly or learn how to read, just because I heard my parents and other siblings reciting same twice a day (morning prayers and night time prayers). Children should never be in an environment where family prayer is not a normal part of family life.
- Fagbemi sent this piece from the United Kingdom
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents
In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state…
Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train
The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…