By Deji Oso (Dejavu)
South Africa
The family is the foundation of every society. Yet, many homes have lost their stability, unity and happiness owing to issues of immorality, entitlement mentality
and quest for freedom, particularly in the Age of Gender Equality.
Ironically, parents are the drivers of the family and children are the reflections of their parents. Going by the above hypotheses, will it not be right to contend that the unabated emergence of wayward children is a direct function of increasing wayward parents in our society?
Videos are showing how some parents take their children to parties where their kids of
opposite-sex between ages 3 and 4 are enlivened to be dancing “erotically” together. I have seen amother giving her little daughter a cigarette or “shisha”‘ to smoke”
and beer to drink (see the attached video posted by the mother).
We have also heard stories of fathers having love affairs with their teen or underaged daughters. Today, parents now go to churches and mosques to do thanksgiving because their children (teenagers) bought cars and houses for them through illegal means. What a shame!
These are pointers to the collapse of the value system across every sphere of our
societal architecture, which includes moral decadences in homes and schools. Beyond this, while some parents train their children using what they see or read on the internet, the internet has also become the new parent
of some kids nowadays. The Internet has taken the roles of conventional parents. What some kids do in real life explains what
they see on the internet. The Suspected Roots and Triggers of these social maladies can be traced to:
1. In-Family conflict and moral
deficiencies 2. Departure from the conventional discipline-oriented approach to child’s upbringing both at home and in the schools 3. Uncensored Internet Access 4. Weak Punitive Measure for Immoral conduct i.e. X-rated act by an underage & the abettors 5. General overlapping impact ofp poor ethical or moral architecture in Nigeria.
Recommendations:
To unpack these problems, morality must become a legal entity in Nigeria. Its violation
must attract capital punishment. Parents must be made andt treated as accomplices in the commission of illegal acts by their children. Parents who sexualize the attires of children or promote immoral acts or behaviours in children should bearrested and jailed. By this, parents would be accountable for their actions regarding their children, good or bad, and this may stimulate a new trend of proper parenting.
Secondly, an organized policy framework must be designed and infused into the curriculums in schools across the tiers. The policy must become the very foundation of legality and iinstitution framework in Nigeria towards renewed identity, orientation, behavioural pattern and moral architecture for a better citizenry and society at large particularly in the era of digital revolution and fashion madness.
NB: Do you agree with this point of argument or share a contrary perspective? Please, let’s have your opinions. Good morning!