I’ve come to realize that there is a common trend that really needs to be dealt with in our society and which is ” Parents forcing their children on what course to study “.
Firstly, there is what is called liberation and how it changes a particular situation. Liberation itself is defined as the time or period in which an individual is free from someone or something.
Let bring back our memory to the period of NIGERIA’S Independence . We all know that before Nigeria got her Independence from the colonial masters, there were serious agitation , unrests by people , stating that Nigeria needs freedom from this people.
One way or the other , our fathers of Independence came on board with the aim that , these Independence we all are fighting for, we must get it.
Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Late Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, Late Tafawa Balewa, Late Sir Ahmadu Bello among others , thought it wise that indeed the country needs liberation i.e freedom from the colonial masters . At the end of it all, freedom was given to Nigeria despite all that the country is facing now.
Bringing it down to the family level, there is also need for liberation to come into action.
I was so privileged sometime ago when myself and my colleagues we’re discussing about the topic:” Liberation”.
We brought down the topic by looking at various dimensions of liberation.
As the programme went on, the presenter decided to go into the family issue when it comes to child liberation .
This segment brought out a lot of deep conversations between myself and my colleagues on the show.
Like I said earlier on when I started to write this article, it’s always been a mentality by some parents to always introduce their opinion to their children , most especially in terms of choice of course to study in the University, which should not be at all.
The presenter of the programme asked me what my view was concerning the issue, and I said , it is very unfortunate that some of these things are still happening in this 21st century. Some parents will tell you, Joshua, from the way I see you do things, it’s like you will study this particular course, so I will process how you can enter the University to study this course. And meanwhile that child is not intending to go for that course, but he or she finds it difficult to convince the parents. I must say that our parents need to understand those things.
Let me tell you something,” You may be doing something good does not mean that you are good at it”
As parents , if your child decides to study computer science , let he or she go for computer science. If it is journalism, same thing applies also.
Do not force your children on a particular course to study , unless there is going to be failure at the end when the result is out.
There is also another aspect of the parent and child liberation in the society that is also common in the family .
There are some parents especially the father’s who are very authoritative in nature.
One of the temperaments talks about these set of people as being choleric.
If you as a parent is in this category, there is 80% tendency that your children will be scared of you , especially in terms of communication.
I have seen cases whereby children complain to other adults that they are not free to talk to their parents when they have issues bothering them, instead , they shut their mouths because of their parents.
You will all agree with me that when you want to talk to a small child of four years old , you need to come down to the level of that child before you can communicate with that child .
The same thing applies to all categories of children , even if they are youths . Understand your child so that they will begin to tell you more things about them that you don’t know.
I read in the newspaper , about a woman who told another journalist that children whom she has been counselling over the years , shared their problems with her , saying that ” I don’t like what my mum does for me, she used to shout at me”. These is a practical example of what some children are facing in their house.
I must say that these are really issues that parents need to work on if they want to really enjoy their children .
By Joshua Olagundoye
The Communicator Blog
