Parents

Who is a parent? Is there such a thing as a bad parent? What makes a person fall into the category of "Bad parents"?. In my opinion, a bad parent, is a failed parent. Now, what makes a failed parent? I think, we need to define the term 'parent' to make sure we're all on the same page. According to Wikipedia, In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A caretaker is a person designated to take care of people or things. What is care? Care is the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something. 

By extension, A parent is a person designated to provide what is necessary for health, welfare, maintenance and protection of their child, irrespective of the child's age.I think it's safe to say, that when a parent fails in all of these, They have failed. I'd like to state that I don't believe in human perfection, only God is perfect. Therefore, it's humanly impossible to not make any mistakes and fail sometimes. The strength is in coming back up and being there for your kids, especially emotionally.


A lot of youths and teenagers are experiencing an epidemic of low self esteem and other social disorders which is leading to teenage fornicators, teenage killers, young adult scammers and our future leaders are being eaten alive by the fear of failure. A lot of these issues stem from emotional trauma often caused by parental issues. I'm not here to talk about parental neglect.

I'm here to crave your indulgence in trying to be emotionally available  for your future kids, Be their emotional rock, encourage their little wins, listen to them, explain things to them, don't just yell your opinions and them and drown them in guilt whenever they speak. Also, let them enjoy thinking for themselves. Even when sometimes, their opinions are dumb as rocks. Help them understand, show them the flaws in their thinking. Don't just bark shut them down and order them to do what you feel is right, explanations go a long way honestly.

In my opinion, your greatest duty as a parent is to communicate with your kids. Communication is not one sided talking, it's both people talking. Communication is very effective and solves a lot of problems. One of my friends explained that his definition of good parenting is when a parent has successfully prepared their kids for their absence. In my opinion, you shouldn't make your kids solely dependent on you and get angry and disappointed when they can't handle life on their own.

In conclusion, aspire to be a great parent, be there for your kids, talk to them and try to instill morals in them and don't be emotionally and physically abusive. I pray that God helps us all be great parents.