Family is the foundation

The only people a child knows after being born are the people who surround him. That child learns to speak by using those around him as an example. He learns to think in their way too. He learns basically everything from those people.

He therefore learns from observation and from his exemplars — his family. In the same way a child learns all the qualities from family, the same way he will learn violence and all the other negatives that plague our society today.

What does this prove? It proves that the children of today were not brought up in the right way. Families just don’t have the time to correct children, to teach them to respect others and, most importantly, to teach them the power of prayer. Parents are too busy trying to make ends meet, so they have no time for their children.

While I understand that it is important to provide for one’s family, it is also important that you take time out to teach your children simple but yet basic rules of everyday living. If you do not take time to nurture them and instil strong morals and values in them, then what are you working so hard to achieve?

Without a doubt your child will be involved in some gang or the other and may meet his death. If that is not the case and he is not involved in a gang, he still will not know the value of what you have worked so hard for and will not put it to good use because you never took the time to teach him.

Family is the link to our past and the bridge to our future. A child should also be proud of his family. It is such a huge burden for a child to be ashamed of his family’s history. Picture a ten-year-old telling a teacher who needs to see his parents: "My father is in prison on a rape charge and my mother is in rehab because she’s an alcoholic." Do you have any idea how that will impact on that child’s self- esteem? Family is indeed the foundation not just of a child but of the future. Children are the future and without proper guidance from parents and other members of the family we can only imagine what the future will be like.

I am saying family because everyone has a part to play. Not just the mother and father, but an aunt, an uncle, a brother or sister. Sometimes even a neighbour or a teacher has an impact on a child’s life.

Who knows which one of those mentioned that child is using as a role model? We all need to be conscious of who we are, and we need to concentrate on becoming better human beings so we can set good examples for children to follow. I remember my Psychology teacher saying: "Children learn what they see." Now I know exactly what she meant. Children learn from example and we are the exemplars.

The statement "charity begins at home, and so too does violence" is quite true. While charity begins at home, so must love, peace, respect and prayer.

In my piece "Taking our country back community by community" I mentioned that in the rural areas not only do parents correct their children but sometimes even neighbours will do this.

I stress yet again, we need more of such involvement by everyone. As a matter of fact we should all take an active part and correct a child whenever we see him on the wrong path. True, we might be risking being stabbed or shot but hey, we got them that way in the first place, so we must be prepared to suffer the consequences.

The point is, we all need to take responsibility. We need to be more responsible, we need more parents who are willing to be parents and who are willing to deal with all the trials that come with it. Believe it or not we all affect the future in some way.

No matter who we are and where we are in life we always have an impact on the life of someone else. In the end it comes down to the fact that family is most important. Another famous quote says: "Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."

A child needs a family, not just people to live with, but people who care and who have a positive impact on his life.