The holidays are here again. It is the time students/pupils return from school for a deserved rest. It is also an opportunity for the kids to help their parents in many ways, depending on the home and the occupation of the parents. Above all, it is a period that offers parents an opportunity to bond with their children, to understand them better and to detect any negative or positive changes in their general character. It is this latter part that is very important, especially at this time of high juvenile delinquency.
It is not in doubt that the majority of cultists today are young people of school age. Cultism has somehow found its way from tertiary institutions to secondary schools where it has succeeded in turning those involved away from the right path. This, no doubt, portends great danger for the future as these are children who are expected to become tomorrow’s leaders.
Arguments and counter arguments have been made as to why and how this sad situation has come to be. Is it a case of poor parenting/poor mentorship, or a case of the refusal of the kids to listen to their parents? Whatever the case, both have some blame to take.
Some parents just have little or no time for their children because of work/business demands. This has tended to leave the kids of such parents at the mercy of all manner of negative influences and when they return to school, such students pollute others.
In an age when children can access all manner of information via the internet, it becomes more important that they be monitored as much as possible and given proper guidance. The performance of such duty starts from the home. It will be wrong for parents to expect teachers to perform magic on children who have already been spoilt from the home. What the teachers and the school do is merely to consolidate on what the children have gained from home.
However the inability of parents to make their children malleable in the home front means that the school cannot beat them into shape. Also given that the schools, especially the higher institutions, cannot effectively monitor the children, these kids return home worse than they were when they left.
In this period of the holidays, therefore, parents are expected to sit their children down, talk to them, ask questions, and try as much as possible to find out if they are still the children they knew.
Rather than allow them to roam the streets during this holiday period, parents should make the children to be part of their businesses for those in business; while also ensuring they do not neglect their studies at home.
