Instill family values in our children

A series of events involving rogue actions by adolescents have brought to the fore the state of our families; specifically the diminishing influence of parents in the upbringing of children.

In the first transgression, the red flag went up when it emerged that tens of youths were being courted to attend a house party branded Project X in one of Nairobi’s more affluent suburbs. From the distastefully bold adverts, teenagers were being invited to an orgy of libidinous sex, binge drinking and drugs by deviants who drew inspiration the popularity of other Project X parties in foreign lands.

Shortly after this event was banned by authorities, some 150 youths were arrested in Nairobi’s Lang’ata estate where they had been invited for another alcohol party. When these youths were arraigned in court, it emerged that 17 were minors.

This disturbing news came on the back of another report that girls from Kangeso Secondary School in Rongo held demonstrations and demanded that their principal be replaced because he failed to provide them with leaked question papers before last year’s KCSE exams. In the same week, it was reported that 22 girls from Chelebei Secondary School were found pregnant. That was the snapshot of last week.

The purpose of this narrative is to demonstrate that many parents are losing control of their families and are failing to instill the right family values at a time when greater vigilance is called for.

In an age where weak role models are paraded on our television screens every day, one could argue that glorified images of corrupt luminaries does little to promote moral virtues.

This external influence becomes easier to mimic when parents who should instill family values are often absent from the home; many of them caught up in the rat race, leaving ill-prepared nannies to take up the parenting role.

Whether it is the influence of the increasingly invasive media, or the lack of traditional support structures, the upbringing of children in our fast-growing cities has become a major challenge.

Some may be tempted to give prescriptive solutions to this ethical dilemma, but in the real world, there may be no ready answers. However, the responsibility of raising upright children remains with parents. And whether they choose to instill values by allocating more quality time to family or exposing their children to the right messages during the formative years, they must find way of protecting minors from negative influences.