The journey of charity from home to school

Charity begins at home.

In our quest to make ends meet, we have left our children’s care and training to the mercy of total strangers. There was a time when the saying ‘charity begins at home’ had a strong hold in the minds of every individual which in turn reflects both in their deed and confessions. However, today, reverse is the case as charity does not begin at home anymore but has been redirected to begin at school.

Studies have made us realize that THE FAMILY is the FIRST AGENT OF SOCIALIZATION which we need to always try to remind ourselves considering how parents of today are quick to pass blame to their children’s school teachers anytime they experience any inadequacy in their child’s attitudes and behaviour having forgotten that teachers are employed to nurture the morals of their students; the morals which the parents should have instilled in them from home.

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Do not get me wrong, I am of a strong opinion also that the school has its role to play in all these, the teachers also have their own impacts but the parents have more because these children are theirs, their own blood, and of course their future. Any child who falls short on moral standard would only disgrace the parents at the long run and become toxic to their own generation.

Parental care.

Parents of these days do not have time to give their children/wards the training they well deserve and one of the major reasons according to research is the economic state in the country which has posed great challenges to these parents in the face of their businesses and work place, I understand that parents need to take their jobs and businesses seriously in order to escape the sharp arrow of poverty. Any worker who doesn’t want to be put out of job would definitely strife to meet up with their job related responsibilities and overcome the challenges that may come their way.

Nevertheless, this is not a reason enough to jeopardize the future of one’s children. A parent who is very busy with making more money than creating time, monitoring and teaching their children good morals is only destroying his/her own future. This should bring to our remembrance these Yoruba Adages that say “omo ti a o ko, lo ma gbe’le ti a ko ta” and “Ile la ti n ko eso r’ode” and a Biblical verse “Train up a child the way he should go and when he grows, he will not depart from it”---Proverbs 22:6.

All these sayings point at just one direction: That is the primaryduty of parents to pay serious attention to the upkeep and moral training of their children which will not just help these kids become good ambassadors of their family but will also give the parents sense of pride in the future.

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A good parent should know and accept that as much as there is need for them to pursue their careers, they also have an obligation to be available for their children because both parent and child would get to a point in their lives and realize that money and wealth is not all that matters in any parent/child relationship. Love, attention and proper morals are more important which I believe they are better candidates to pass these to their children than any school teacher.

Diligently doing these are what give a parent peace of mind in the future when old age come knocking.

Written byBukolami Ajayi.

Bukolami Ajayi is an Administrator, a Pedagogue, A Writer and a committed advocate to Mental Health in all its phases. Follow her on IG page www.instagram.com/bukkiesteph and on Twitter @bukkiesteph