I'm not a parent yet, and you might think because of that, I don't know much about parenting. But seeing one of the questions in the prompt I feel obligated to talk about parenting.
To be honest, I don't think parenting is easier now than it was thirty years ago., In fact, I feel parenting is harder now than it was thirty years ago.
Don't worry I'll tell you why.
The prime purpose of parenting is to nurture and guide a child to grow in love and support to be responsible for himself and society at large. Simply put, it is just raising a child with the core values that would make him or her a well-rounded human. Right?
So if we are to compare how kids are turning out today and back then. You'll see the huge gap in parenting back then and today. Then you'll realize that parenting has gotten a lot worse than today than yesterday.
So what could be making parenting hard today?
Growing up those days in my culture, it is said that a child is not raised by only one person. It is believed that it takes many people to raise a child. So when a child is beginning to go astray, parents can seek the help of other family members or friends to help speak and correct the child on what is good and what's not.
I recall Dad sending my kid brother off to live with my uncle because he was gradually becoming stubborn and living a life that wasn't acceptable in my family. Some people might call it being harsh towards the child, but that bold step my dad took helped reshape my brother's life into the responsible man he is today in the family and society.
But today, a lot of things are making it difficult for parents.
The first is social media. I'm not against parents opening up social media accounts for their kids but I believe there should be an age limit for that. You might be doing your best to raise your child to be a well-rounded human, but there's a psychopath online who claims to know it all, leading your kids down the wrong way. And since these kids are too young to understand what's wrong or right, they believe these things and think it is the right way to live.
Listen, not every influencer online is knowledgeable enough about the niche he or she is in. There are a whole lot of madmen claiming to be sensible and dishing out wrong advice online to the young ones. Calling it being "woke". So while you parent offline, they do theirs online, thwarting your efforts.
Also, like I said, in my culture, it is believed that one person doesn't train a child. But these days, parents are ready to fight you when you correct their kids for being wrong or doing something wrong. They are ready to fight you when you notice they're maltreating their kids or exposing them to dangers and you try to intervene.
The perfect line for them is always
"Mind your business."
I believe the societal pressure in parenting these days is much and making parenting harder. Before, communal support made it easier to raise men and women of the right morals.
Maybe I speak from how parenting has and is going on from my culture or own side of the world, but for me, I believe that parenting years ago was better and easier than now. Also, that I believe parenting was easier thirty years ago doesn't mean that there weren't gaps, too.
Happy Weekend.
