Parenting tips : Training the boy child
The one topic of discussion on most activist is how to make life better and favorable for the girl child but they neglect that the proper training of the boy child can make all this girl child issue come to an end.
‘Train up a child in the way he should grow and when he is old, he will never depart from it.’
When a boy child is trained as much as the girls, when he grows this behaviors will be wired into his mainframe.
The patriarchy practised in most places and communities in Africa sees the boy child as a king hence ought not to be domesticated.
While the girl child is pampered whenever something happens to them, the boy child is usually asked to man up as men do not cry.
The girl is thought how to close her legs, get domesticated and be ready for marriage.
This advice and training is deluded the boy child as he only learnt how to bottle his emotions, Hustle and marry a decent girl who will do the rest for him.
To eradicate and drastically reduce the problem and challenges the girl child encounters, right training of the boy child is all that is needed.
Right ways to train the boy child.
- Indulge him domestically : While distributing house chores to the kids, there should be no form of division. This is for the ladies and this for the boys. Let the boys also do some cleaning, cooking and even shopping for groceries.
- Pamper him like the other kids : allow him cry if it calls for it and stop asking him to always man up. Expressing his emotions makes him a free and happy child.
- Always make him understand that he is no different from his sisters, this would reduce the superior feelings and lessen the ego the thought of being superior builds in him.
- Teach him how to close his legs : just like his sisters, let him understand that closing his legs is the right thing to do and no behavior is gender based. As much as you try to tell your girls to stick to a relationship and respect it, let him also know he can be so as well.
- Prepare him for marriage ; while lecturing the girls on how best to attract the best man, also teach him how he can be the right person a girl would want to be with.
The qualities we build into our boys is what they become, this doesn’t neglect the fact that as parents we might do our best and yet our kids turn out the other way.
Do your best to inculcate the right values in them from the very beginning and when the eventually grow up, a larger percentage of them will not depart from it.
Training the boy child is as important as grooming the girl child.
With the boy child properly trained and groomed, half the challenges our girls suffer will drastically reduce.