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Inasmuch as I am a busy parent, I always try my best to give my child quality time. Because she is my top priority, I make sure I am involved in her life as much as possible.
I do not want her to label me an internally displaced parent, a term I heard from a poem one of the kids at Tasha’s school recited during open day meeting recently.
An internally displaced parent is detached from the life of her child. This kind of parent is forever busy with work and her children take a back seat.
She is in a constant rat race that is never ending.
The internally displaced parent is forever chasing big contracts, looking for the corner office or trying to beat deadlines, at her children’s expense.
This is the kind of parent who leaves for work in the wee hours of the morning when the kids are asleep and comes back in the dead of the night when they are asleep once again.
She is never there for any of her children’s school events and the kids have gotten used to her absence.
The kids have adapted so well to her absence the TV is the daddy and the Internet the mummy.
If they are teenagers, they have learnt to consult Google on confusing issues or at times they turn to their friends for their counsel, which can be disastrous.
HOUSY TAKES CHARGE
And what is the repercussion of being an internally displaced parent?
When parents leave such a significant gap in the life of their kids, the house girl takes charge and it’s total chaos. The girl instills her twisted values in the children.
If you have a son, they may molest him in your very own house because they know the minor can never report.
You may hear from neighbours that your house girl brings men to your house and entertains them in the presence of your one-year-old.
Or you hear that your house girl always leaves your three-year-old to play outside in the cold while she is busy in the house.
To avoid being labelled an IDP, busy as I maybe, I always make sure I surprise my house girl every week so that I get her red handed when she is up to no good.
This tactic has enabled me to nip a lot of evil in the bud.
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