Today is another glorious day, loaded with lots of celebration for children all over the world. As the entire world observes the 2016 Children’s day, hopes are high that children will live to achieve their good and great dreams, as long as they live in the fear of God Almighty.
Celebrating children every year on a day as this is greatly significant and not out of place; for without the continual development of children, the world’s existence comes under critical threat. To say the hope of a nation hangs on the children is not an aberration; indeed children are the future and leaders of tomorrow.
The Holy book made clear God’s position about children and the importance of bringing them up in the way of God. “Lo children are the heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb”. Children are blessings from God, they are gifts from God. Grooming children is not by power nor by good calculation or permutation; it is simply by God’s help, as parents are mere stewards. God entrusted children into the care of parents to be brought up in the fear of God; and without ensuring this, God may be displeased with parents.
The parents are the guardian of children, the family, society, government, schools and the church. To build, nurture and train children in order to reach their highest potentials, each stakeholder must not fail in their responsibility in bringing up children in the fear of God. The foundation of the life of a child is very crucial and is usually laid in the hands of the parents while others are only partners in progress to build on it. Parents are to be careful how they lay the foundation of their child’s life in the early stage, for if the foundation is destroyed, what then can the righteous do?
As Proverbs counsels, parents should never fail in the proper training and discipline of their wards, as it has been encouraged “train a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. Moral, educational, religious and social trainings are very important to children at their tender ages that they may not turn a nuisance to the society. Children are to be taught God’s word in the home and outside the home. Placing God’s word and moral instructions on walls, doorposts and on vehicles and other properties using stickers could serve as a tool in grooming children.
Parents should be mindful of the fact that they will give account of every child brought to the world by them and all those under their care. Therefore, it is vital that parents play their part well in bringing up a godly generation. If all parents strive to give their children formal and informal education so that they can be independent and morally upright, we shall have less miscreants and wicked people in our society. Parents should teach their children good social behavior and how to keep and put into practice the rich and good culture of greetings, eating, dressing and respect for others.
Such trainings are also efforts towards developing nation builders. Husbands and wives should live in unity and harmony and never give room for separation for whatever reason, as this negatively impacts on children and consequently the society on a larger scale.
God and society expect parents to show children how to live a moral and righteous life, show a practical example of how to live, fear and obey God. This surely is the best legacy and godly heritage for the children. Children who grow in an environment like this will be godly and full of potentials. The inheritance that parents are to give their children which will be of lasting value and a blessing to the whole world is not in buildings, cars and infrastructure but in a godly inheritance.
It is worthy of note that the devil is also interested in the lives of children. On a daily basis, he works with the aim of destroying children’s lives, hence, parents, guardians and even the government should be on guard against the wiles of the devil aimed at truncating the lives of our children. Parents, guardians should not encourage nude-dressing, smoking, drinking of alcohol, peer group pressure, prostitution and other vices among their children. Such are detrimental to the development of any child.
The government should be at the forefront in the promotion of discipline, children’s welfare and also keep its political campaign promises for a good and realistic change. Children are to benefit from genuine dividends of democracy in terms of free, quality and effective education. Free medical services and prevention of the outbreak of diseases, provision and promotion of adequate security of life and property, promotion of child rights and fundamental human rights are all to be put in place for the children. Ensuring the above guarantees effective nation building.
Also, our institutions of learning have their roles to play in modeling the lives of children. They are not to relent in their efforts to make government aware of the fact that mere moral instructions given to children instead of real religious devotion is grossly inadequate in grooming the children.
The religious teaching at school’s morning devotion which has been laid to rest or relegated for whatever reason is not the best in terms of shaping the lives of the children. The disadvantage of the government’s policy on moral instruction in our public schools at the expense of religious teaching is doing more harm than what we can imagine. If those who are behind the activities of Boko-haram in this country or outside had known God at their tender age, the present security dilemma that we are experiencing as a nation would have been averted.
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