Before Children Became Parents
The conclusion the post came to was this “despite our parents’ worst efforts, we turned out ok. So it would seem. But we didn’t turn out OK.” And afterward, a list of issues are raised as problems from how they were parented.
As a child of that generation, I understand the point. And I also see the gap in the logic proposed.
We were expecting 19th-century kids to raise 20th-century kids who will parent in the 21st century.
And we thought it was going to be kumbaya.
Most of our parents grew up as kids when the only source of information was from the neighborhood they grew up in. When the TV came up, all the news and influences were from their region.
By the time they started raising kids, the TV had gone national, bringing influences from all over the country. And let’s not forget the movies and TV shows from other parts of the world, bringing new influences- something completely foreign to them.
Schooling had expanded to bring in kids from other parts of the country into one melting pot. Kids in school were not just one culture, it was a party over there.
It’s a different world from where they came from.
But we say we are better than they were.
When I Said I Do
It was a few years back
I don’t remember what caused it but I felt that my wife was not treating me right.
I waited for the whole family to go to bed before deciding to go for a walk.
It was meant to be a prayer walk where I was going to do a tell-it-all with God.
It was more of a prayer rant.
I went into all I thought I was not getting.
When Parents Do Their Jobs
I am typically behind on social media so I only hear about the latest news when someone puts it up on one of the WhatsApp groups I belong to.
This week someone posted that one of the daughters of Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s vice president & pastor in the Redeemed Christian church of God. Actually, that was not the big story. The big story was when someone claimed that the guy she was engaged to is a Muslim.
And so, began the next round of conversations. On one side – Pastor Yemi Osinbajo has failed as a parent and lost the moral ground to counsel people not to marry outside the Christian faith. On the other side – the girl is an adult, she can choose to marry whoever she chooses and it is not the fault of the parent if she chooses to marry outside the faith.
Well, the whole matter was put to rest the next day when someone posted this information from a news organization – “Our source also confirmed that Oluseun Bakare is a Christian and a worker in the Redeemed Christian Church of God.”
So, what was the whole hullabaloo about?
Why You May Not Have A Great Marriage.
A pastor, I respect, who has been married for over 25 years told an interesting aspect of his marriage.
He met his wife when he was just 17. One of the most significant memories of the early days of meeting his wife was that she gave him a nice bible. He was a non-practicing Catholic at the time and his wife was a backslidden pastor’s daughter.
He was born again reading that Bible in college and they were married at the age of 21. Today, they have three sons and two daughters, all of whom are following Jesus.
According to him, he and his wife have performed badly at every single compatibility test. The question after the tests is always “how are you both still together?”
Listening to this raises the age-old long question – how do you have a great marriage?
When Family Becomes Number One In Your Mind
If you grew up in the 1990s, you are probably familiar with the WWF (now WWE) buffet of wrestling entertainment. Actually, at that time most of us didn’t know it was entertainment, we thought these guys were really fighting and feuding for real. Imagine what that did to my childhood memories when I found out.
One of the big stars of those years was Shawn Michaels. He came with the swagger, the feuds and a signature move – Sweet Chin Music. He grew profile well enough and became one of the faces of the WWE franchise. And then, he decided to retire.
Actually, he retired twice. The first time was due to injury which he recovered from and came back. The second retirement, which became the final one, has a more personal ring to it.