Experts Blame Societal Vices On Bad Parenting

Experts have attributed the surge in social vices including drug abuse, rape, cultism and ritual killings.

The experts who spoke at a Boy-Child sensitisation forum organised by A Mother’s Love Initiative, AMLi, a non governmental organisation in Lagos, to mark the International Day for the Boy-child with the theme, ‘’The importance of a father and son relationship from the lens of the Boy-child’ also decried the downward trend in the nation’s education, moral, cultural values.

Speaking at the forum, the foundation President of Computer Professionals of Nigeria, Mr. Tunde Ezichi, said the sordid situation in the country presently could be traced to certain parenting mistakes and certain missing elements in raising the modern boy child.

He said , the way I was raised is different from the way children are being raise these days, there are a lot of influences, societal influences, technological influences, security influences, what has happened is that the pressure of the society has tended to affect the people generally, enough time is not being devoted by the parents in the raising of their children. In the days when we were young raising the child was supposed to be the responsibility of everybody but these days, that does not seem to be the case. Children at times are left to their whims and people are sort of indifferent to children misbehaving in the society without disciplining them.

The ICT consultant said the attitude of parents towards their children by abandoning their core responsibilities and over pampering the children is doing more harm than good.

Harping on the way forward, he said it is high time parents retooled and embrace robust parenting collaboration in raising the children, saying the trust the teachers in school had in disciplining children should be restored.

In her address, the Chief Executive Officer, A Mother’s Love Initiative, Hanatu Enwemadu said the boy-child is fast becoming invisible because society assumes that they are invincible.

‘’They are Hurried through childhood into adulthood and taught to mask their pains, as their tears must not be seen because showing their pains is a sign of weakness. They are taught to be tough: “Boys don’t cry!”, so they end up bottling their emotions.

‘’Again, there is a social but subtle bias against the boy-child. Disputes between a boy-child and a girl-child will invariably be settled in favour of the girl-child. Such stereotypes reflect the various degrees of the onslaught of trauma meted out daily on the boy-child by the society.’’

Mrs Enwemadu who is a lawyer pointed out such assumptions have adverse effects on the psychosocial balance and development of the boy-child, noting that if not reversed the anomalies may turn the young ones abusive in the future.

‘’In line with our project “Committing To Fatherhood” a project which focuses on the importance of the father’s role in keeping the family united as the smallest, yet most significant unit of human society. We asked the boy child at all levels to send in essays titled ‘The Father and Son Relationship from the lens of the Boy-Child’ based on their relationships with their Fathers.’’

She called on all and sundry including parents, teachers, civil society organizations, all levels of government and other stakeholders in the country and African continent to lend their voice against the unfair balance and growing neglect of the boy-child and create more platforms and resources that will promote the interests and total wellbeing of the boy-child.

Highlight of the event was the presentation of prizes to some winners of the essay competition