It has never been more difficult to being a parent than it is now

Back in the days when there was no mobile phones, no internet. Parents often know where their kids are and most likely in whose company they are. Of course there has always been the black sheep of the house, but largely most parents are completely in-charge of their kids. Not any more and the Goalpost has been moved significantly.

So you could be home all day with your teenage son/daughter and convince yourself that He/she didn't go anywhere while he/she traveled the world via His/ her mobile phone.

So while few years ago you can in theory control who your child sees or relates to,this time your chances of marshaling their lives the way you were marshaled few years ago is almost zero.

So what do you do?
The problem here is that some parents are NOT honest with
themselves; you saw your neighbor's 16 Year old daughter smiling with a boy down the road, you come to Facebook to tell us how corrupt teenagers are these days. How little girls are now having sex and stuff like that. Remember, they were just chatting BUT you already concluded they were having sex.

Meanwhile you have a teenage daughter who you haven't seen with a boy and something tells you that she is better than the girl you saw.
Joggle your memory a bit; who were you as a 16, 17 or 18 year old?

So just because you are now grown up and married and have kids, you suddenly became an Angel, wiped off the memories of your activities as a teenager and now sit in judgment over this generation.

That's interesting!

I tell you the truth; we can't change young people by making them feel worse than they are. You wrote love letters in school. As a teen you imagined things and had feelings for the opposite sex. You did all the hide and seek and touched things while pretending to be playing. You can't sit there with good conscience and claim you didn't have feelings as a teen. So, where are all these Holy brigade coming from? Which planet did they grew up in?

When you see these things, stay calm! A boy smiling with a girl is not a disaster, talk to your teen child. Be honest and remember the games you played. Stop fooling yourself that your teenage son/daughter haven't got those feelings you had at this time. Be open and explain to Him/her that life is not all about pursuing your feelings, he/She will have all the time in the world to fall in love when grown up.

Explain the damage teenage sex experiment can do and the possibility of grinding their lives to a standstill. That's much better than panicking and blaming 'last days' as if you didn't pass through that same road.

Some Parents are first class liars: your child had a bad result in school and you were disappointed and rightly so and instead of encouraging Him/Her and finding a way forward, you screamed; ''When I was your age i used to be the best pupil in my class'' Really? Are you sure? So how does bullying a pupil that performed poorly increase his/her confidence to do better?

Don't be a stumbling block to your child's development.

He/She performs below expectation? Yes, you have every right to be disappointed after paying fees you deserve better. But, some kids are naturally slow in learning and so you have to encourage, get the child more help and you will see improvement.

Parents should STOP playing Angels and judges, encourage more and take my word for it, it is not every boy and girl meeting you see means they are having sex. Bin that idea and keep an open mind and keep faith with young people.

Thanks for your time.
God bless.

- Chris Ndu Nwachuwku