“Educate your children to self-control, the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society,” Benjamin Franklin
In a sense, we should be grateful to the Covid pandemic, because it forced people to stay home and contend with what they had done – up to that point or as many did become creative in dealing with circumstances they find themselves in.
Of course, the experiences were different for different people for different reasons.
However, we were all forced to practice a certain level of self-control.
It was during these moments that parents if they hadn’t already, had the opportunity to take a huge chunk out of crime and other unruly activities from society.
It is no secret that a lot of the crimes and heinous acts committed in society could have been avoided if people had a certain level of self-control, or if children, growing up in their early years, had been taught self-control or simply hold in their strong urges to act out.
There would be a lot fewer issues amongst people.
While parenting styles and methods differ from house to house, the objective has always been the same – to raise upstanding children who could one day be of great value to their respective societies.
It’s sad to see a ‘lost cause’, and knowing that had there been some intervention at an earlier stage, the outcome would have been different. As the saying goes, ‘you can’t straighten a mature tree’.
This is not to say children should be taught to always fold or be tongue-tied – that’s just as bad if not worse.
The discipline of self-control and holding in of urges should always be subject to good reasons – because as is the case with most of the youth, timidness and fear are what they exude the most.
Ultimately, it is the children who will benefit the most from having parents who care and teach them what they already know or experienced while growing up.
No parent should see their child going through misery of any sort that could have been prevented had he or she been taught discipline and self-control.
– Olavi Popyeinawa
Twitter: @olavipopyeinawa
Email: olavipopyeinawa@gmail.com