STREET-SMARTNESS IS A MUST TRAINING When my daughter was thirteen and in boarding school, we went to pick her from school one day as they vacated. As we drove out of the school premises on the way home, I kept thinking about the privileges our children have and which we never had, wondering if they…
ENJOY THEM IN SPITE OF THEM ‘Femi Adekunle on Parenting Have you become exasperated while screaming, yelling and agitated? You are not alone, many parents have. From keeping their toys in place, to washing the dishes, to doing their laundry, parents have a hard time endlessly dispensing instructions which sometimes, you have to repeat often…
DON’T SPEND TIME, SPEND PRIME TIME ‘Femi Adekunle on Parenting For my twins, I discovered something that I regret not starting as early enough as when they were toddlers. Since the day they were born, we have always treated them as twins. We bought a pair of everything: clothing, shoes, toys, etc., and understandably so…
STAY OUT OF THEIR PROBLEMS ‘Femi Adekunle on Parenting Stay out of their problems – when I was growing up, my parents had this understanding. They allowed us to suffer the consequences of our actions. And if we were stupid, we bore the brunt of our stupidity. My parents would not shout themselves hoarse at…
Parenting: DON’T JUST PREPARE, DEVELOP* ‘ Femi Adekunle on Parenting To be up-to-date with your child, you must update. The place of preparation in parenting can not be overemphasised. However, development is superior to preparation. In other words, development is the superlative version of preparation. When all you do is prepare but fail to further…
NEVER EXCLUDE THEM FROM DECISION-MAKING ‘ Femi Adekunle on Parenting One of the big mistakes parents make is to think that the children are too immature to understand the running of the family, hence when decisions are made, they are relegated to irrelevance and excluded. Years back I was to consult with a nutritionist/dietician who…
YOU WILL NEVER BE THEIR ONLY ‘PARENT’ ‘Femi Adekunle on Parenting Growing up in those days, we were weaned to respect, value, and appreciate the extended family system, which is one of the strengths of our African cultural setting. We grew up being close to our cousins, aunties, uncles, and grandparents. I recollect that many…
TREAT THEM FAIRLY BUT NOT EQUALLY ‘Femi Adekunle on Parenting Sounds strange, doesn’t it? A wise man once said that there is no greater inequality than the equal treatment of unequal. Having to raise more than 2 children has strongly reinforced my belief in this saying even much more. On a daily basis, I…
NEVER GET TIRED OF GIVING INSTRUCTIONS When we were young, I remember my parents always screaming in my dialect alaigboran! Meaning that we were quite stubborn and disobedient. Now, as a parent, I can’t count how many times I have screamed the same frustration on my children! Imagine having to remind your grown-up children to…
THEIR NATURE DETERMINES HOW YOU NURTURE THEM Having many children has really opened my eyes to the depth of individual child uniqueness, more so when you have twins. For the twins, I discovered that different things excite, motivate, challenge, and upset them. While one of them thrives in an atmosphere of competition, i.e., motivated by…
