Every now and then, I believe it is good we sit to reflect and bring ourselves to the understanding and consciousness that the children we see today, perhaps running around carefree and being dependent on us will not remain as such in a blink of an eye. In a few years, they have become men and women, who have been shaped by the many inputs in their lives either consciously, subconsciously, or unconsciously.
Indeed, today is the tomorrow we spoke about yesterday. This is saying to us that while we speak of our tomorrow and perhaps, wish that it would be a beautiful one, we must be deliberate about our today, and know that should be handled with great importance. Our children today, are important because they are our tomorrow. We must nurture them rightly and give them the right guidance. If we fail in this duty, we are not doing them any good or ourselves either. We are advised to plant a tree today so that we will have a shade to sit under tomorrow. If this is true, then our children must be nurtured correctly, or we would be said to have destroyed our future with our own hands. Any stakeholder; parent, teacher, media, society, or government involved in raising a child today, must not downplay their role by any means. We must sit tight in our positions and take responsibility to get out the best results. We mustn’t get discouraged.
The process of nurturing is a time-consuming, not so much fun process, but rewarding in the end if we stick to it. In nurturing, we will be required to sow seeds, water, plant, weed, prune, even trim sometimes, be vigilant, and be very watchful. Whatever it takes to ensure that that child turns out excellently. The children we are pouring so much into might not even understand it at this time, and at times, to them, this nurturing process might be a seemingly uncomfortable one; they may have to grumble sometimes, cry if need be, wish they didn’t have you in their lives but in the future, they will surely be grateful for this that you have done.
On social media today, we see a lot of young people engaging in condemnable acts, throwing all caution into the air for the immediate pleasure of the moment, having misplaced priorities, and yet, there is still another set of young people with self-restraint, upholding high moral values, trying to pursue a worthy vision and goal, so we ask, what has made the difference? I want to believe it’s the nurturing process; who is guiding them? Who is speaking over their lives? Who is the voice of caution and restraint they hear? Who is shaping and re-shaping these ones? What environment they are being groomed in? What examples are they seeing? What are we exemplifying? What are we teaching them?
We cannot sit and fold our hands and watch our future just happen to us anyhow, we must deliberately and consciously play our part in seeing that we shape and mold the future that we want to see. It’s not a day’s job and it’s not a one-off thing. It’s a continuous process that we must embrace.
In the old days, mentorships, apprenticeship and imitation were how the children were groomed to learn informally. And today, we have an added advantage; formal education. Shouldn’t our children then, be better positioned to do better for themselves, their future, and their nation? We must harness all available opportunities to see that our children are nurtured rightly. Those involved in formally training a child must do so with utmost seriousness and those involved with informal training must also play their parts as well, those involved in ensuring structures are put in place for these children to strive excellently, must not fail in this duty. All said and done, we must nurture our children rightly. Our tomorrow depends on it.
Our children are our future, let’s invest in them.
- A CALL TO NURTURE OUR CHILDREN RIGHTLY - June 7, 2022
- PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT: THE ISSUE OF UNINVOLVED AND ABSENT PARENTING - April 7, 2022
- PRIORITISE EDUCATION OSINBAJO URGES LEADERS - September 21, 2021
- IMPACT OF SCHOOL CLOSURE IN KADUNA AND ZAMFARA ON EDUCATION IN NIGERIA - September 21, 2021
- CHILDREN’S DAY 2021: CHILDREN, DESERVING BETTER! - May 27, 2021
- INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2021 #ChooseToChallenge - March 8, 2021
- INSECURITY IN SCHOOLS- A THREAT TO ACCESS AND QUALITY EDUCATION - February 24, 2021
- FUNDING MATTERS IN THE NIGERIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM - February 22, 2021
- EDUCATION RESTRUCTURING- IS IT A GOOD CALL? - December 9, 2020
- FAMILY PLANNING: EDUCATION PARAMOUNT - December 4, 2020
