Back in the day, you were on your own in this world after college

Today’s parents have no idea how to discipline their children. A recent discussion on one of the FM radio stations left me frothing at the mouth after hearing kids calling to complain about their parents being annoyingly mean.

The young lads - siblings - were particularly unhappy because their parents were apparently no longer supporting them after they cleared college.

While it is no secret that our world has been transformed into a giant hustling stage, where unemployment is the main theme, it beats logic that the new generation is not willing to work hard and smart.

Back in our days, our parents pumped it into our small heads that one had to work hard to make it anywhere in life. That was the rule.

Our fathers made it clear they were sacrificing a lot  to support us, and that the moment we stepped out of college, we would be on our own.

We had to work hard to join public universities, where students were entitled to a stipend, popularly know as ‘boom’ after Kenya’s coffee boom of the 1970s.

A few of us who could not make it to college and felt ready for work, went out job hunting to eke out a living. That was the script.

Landing a job meant moving out of the family house. You would be told by the ever-serious parents that you were now a man and had to rent your own place the following year to start your own life.

Additionally, you were expected to help your parents finance the education of your younger siblings. And as a former beneficiary, it was your time to return the favour.

We were brought up with the knowledge that whatever you received from your father (and mother) was some kind of a loan - that you would have to repay someday when you get a job.

This is never the case today. Nowadays, kids even think it’s their right to inherit whatever their parents have worked hard for. This is the big problem in our society.

These are the kids you find drinking illicit brew from dusk to dawn. They hate work and all they do is wait for their folks to die then start fighting over inheritance.

The same kids will plan to murder their parents to ensure the inheritance comes faster. Unfortunately, majority of children who wait to inherit their parents’ estates have no idea how to run a business or acquire similar wealth. It is almost as if business genius thins with successive generations!

I blame today’s parents for failing to prepare their children for business life. It would help if parents exposed their children to objective money handling skills. They should also teach them the value of hard work in the line of the protestant work ethic, much like Asians do with their children, so that today, Nairobi’s Essajee Amijee & Sons is still in the glass business for over 100 years! But miro companies?

Besides muhindis, I love the way odieros pay college fees, but after college, the kids have to do manual jobs to raise pocket money.

After college, the kid moves out to start life. The parents will meanwhile use whatever is left of their savings to globetrot and enjoy their sunset years as they have already played their part.

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@AineaOjiambo