By BERNADETE IDIALU

The holiday period is once more upon us; it is supposed to be a period where students and teachers can at least have their rest, socialize and come back to normal school activities in a refreshed state of mind. This is no longer the case.

Due to the strain associated with earning a living, parents don’t have time on their hands any longer to carry out adequate parenting. Children are shipped to holiday lessons where they, the parents part with fees ranging from two to six thousand naira per month in order to have the teachers who double as caregivers coach them.

The question that comes to mind is – whatever happened to strong parental guidance and counselling? This has been sacrificed on the alter of job insecurity.

These children are vast in mouthing out oaths and obscenities. Of course this can be expected when parents are no longer around to see to the physical and emotional aspects of catering for the needs of their children who grow up with their own will. Parental bonding with their children is almost non-existent nowadays; parents live in the same house with their children.

These youths are so self dependent from an early age – they are chauffeured off to school very early in the morning with lots of money to whet their appetite in place of love and parental guidance. These are the same sets of youths who immediately after graduation sell off their cars and laptops at give away prices to host their friends and girlfriends in wild parties where their voyeuristic imagination is put to good use.

Parents most times manage to put up weak smiles when their wards embarrass them in public by their uncouth and unruly behaviour. They are a direct opposite of their calm, refined and hardworking parents who put in so many man-hours on daily basis into their work in order to earn good money to raise their children to a highly advantaged way of life. These children instead of appreciating the sacrifice trust and love bestowed upon them by their parents, fall into fraternizing or romancing with bad groups and associations.

But, on a critical note, are these youths supposed to be blamed? They are simply the victims who are caught in a vicious circle; they are what society has molded them into; they are giving back what they received.

These children didn’t ask to be born, they were not consulted as to the state of life in which they were supposed to be raised in but, they have a right to love, education guidance and counselling as well as understanding from family, friends, caregivers, school and government.

Did our great leaders burn out themselves at school as these youths are made to do nowadays? It becomes a bit worrisome when it comes to the notice that some schools enforce the habit of holiday lessons on reluctant parents of senior school students who risk the expulsion of their ward if they don’t comply with these rules. They grumblingly accept the terms without necessarily seeking redress especially if such schools are established in the name of God.

Truth is, teachers and parents have equal roles to play in the development of a child but a teacher’s role is hindered; a bit limited considering the number of children in a class whose attention they try to conquer.

As the maxim goes – there is a time to play; a time to cry a time to laugh and a time to be serious, one role should not over-bear on the other so that the normal order is not displaced.

In order to keep up with the grind of daily routine, parents have had to sacrifice the parental care of their children for others to carry out. No wonder the rise in crime, foul language, obscenity and wanton disregard for rules and regulations which bind he society today; a true reflection that the poor and the rich also cry in society based on contemporary crime and life style which is in vogue.

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