In the recent past, we have heard outrageous news of children found in clubs drinking and engaging in immoral acts. However, no tangible action has been taken to curb such vices.
Just a week ago, we heard of Project X, which advocated for immoral behaviour among youths, being promoted in Nairobi. The key question that comes to mind is, are we heading in the right direction?
An American psychologists and the founder of the humanistic approach to psychology Carl Rogers argues that “experience leads me to believe that it is cultural influences which are a major factor in our evil behaviours”.
One can agree that our society is at great risk if nothing is done to save the youth from bad influence.
In my opinion, teenagers have been given more freedom than they deserve. Parents have also neglected their role of giving advice to their children. In most cases, parents return home at midnight when they are totally drunk and leave early the next morning. They have no time for their children as they have entrusted them to house helps.
The role of a parent is to guide the child while still young so that he/she will not succumb to bad peer pressure. Unfortunately, nowadays parents are doing nothing to correct their children.
Parents have ignored their core role of educating their children on sexual education. In traditional African community, girls were taught by their mothers, aunties and grandmothers on how to behave and on the changes in their bodies. Likewise, the boys were taught by their fathers, uncles and grandfathers about their role.
Parents need to take their children to church to receive moral teachings in order to save them from this evil world. It is time for parents to open up on their children, be close to them and teach them about body privacy. This will help them avoid curiosity among their peers.
The church leaders and elders should also take the initiative of organising seminars for teenagers to teach them about the word of God and growing in an upright way.
In his book, which is a parents’ guide on raising healthy children in a sexual sick world, Dr Richard D. Dobbins says that “engage your teenagers in meaningful, factual conversation about adolescent sexual immorality, but don’t preach! Preaching will only drive your teens further from you. Ask the Lord to help create between you and your teens the kind of open, confidential relationship that leaves them feeling free to come to you when they have questions or are in some kind of moral conflict”.
These are words full of wisdom, encouraging parents to be close to their children and also to rely on God for guidance. Dr Dobbins continues to say that “Let your teens know that when you were their age, you had your struggles, too. Don’t go into detail; but assure them that the Lord saw you through and He will see them through.
The Bible in Proverbs 22:6, says train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
It is vital to raise children in a godly way for us to be happy with them in the days to come. If we ignore them, in future they will be a burden to us and there will be no leaders.
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