THINKING OUT LOUD: Let's talk about training up a child.

I owe my dad a basket full of gratitude, my father was always there to let you know the difference between right and wrong or good and bad. There was no avenue for spoiling us, he wasn't the type of parent to spare the rod if you did something wrong as a child. There were days where he would correct with his mouth and there were days where he would correct with punishment. His favourite was one he called "stool down", some of you know it as "pick pin".

I remember how my sister and I used to tear out pages from our notebooks to create funny crafts. Our exercise books never lasted, my dad explained to us why it was wrong to play with our exercise books and to stop that silly behaviour, he numbered all the pages. So if page 15 was missing, you would have to give a very good explanation. He had a full time job as an Engineer and a full time job as a father. He never took anything for granted.

This affected the way we behaved outside the house, it made us respect his presence and absence. Our training was both formal and informal. This is why I was never the type of girl to fall for peer pressure, if I want something, I work for it, if I cannot get it at the time,  I remain contented till I can buy it for myself. I can say 80% of the kind of woman I turned out to be can be blamed on my father's ability to understand the importance of training his children. I have so many stories of my dad but I will leave that gist for another day. 

My BabaTee (That's his nickname, lol! a short form for Babatunde) and yours truly.

 These days, most young parents leave the duty of training their children to anyone. Charity begins at home, when you decide to let your children behave in a wrong way without any correction, you are leaving that child's future to chance or luck. I hear people make comments like this when their children misbehaves "he's just a child or she's just a child" and I don't understand them. Should the training of a child begin when he or she is a teenager or an adolescent?

I was in the hospital last week, while waiting to see the doctor, a little boy kept jumping all over the place, at first it seemed adorable because he was really cute but after a while, it became too much as he was disturbing a lot of adults. His mother kept shouting and chasing him. You could see that she was tired. A man seated close to me caught the toddler and held him down. He cried for a while, then became calm. The man looked at the mother and said "stop acting like he is bigger than you", she laughed and said "aah!!! he is bigger than me o!". I have seen people let their children stay up late on school days, they let them watch anything on tv till when they are ready to sleep. As a child, if the movie wasn't PG rated or strictly for children, there was no way my dad would let you see the movie. Children should have a time when they go to bed especially when they have to go to school. Just like some adults who have schedules, I believe children should have schedules too.

There should be a time for everything in their young lives. A time to play, a time to read, a time for siesta, a time for fun. Guide your children, don't let them do the guidance for you, it's your responsibility as a parent and remember this "If you don't give your children the proper training they need, society would assist you and in many cases, it won't be the kind of help you would like.