We need to not only avail books, but also to maximize the available technology for improving literacy and reading in our country. Inasmuch as a good cause is propagated from above, interested stakeholders can join hands to make the dream come true.

Mental health disorders is an umbrella term covering a variety of issues like: Depression, anxiety disorders, disruptive behaviour, dissocial disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders (behavioural and cognitive), eating disorders, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and others.

This article was published in The Citizen Newspaper – Tanzania on July 30, 2024. Shimbo Pastory and Raymond Joel Beauty…

There have been extreme cases of cruelty done to children by parents and guardians in the course of behavioural correction. Such extreme or repeated infliction of pain has a strong impact in the life of the young persons. While ‘spare the rod, spoil the child’ has survived to be an unwritten parenting principle, it is not the only thing that parents should offer to their children. Cruelty does not decrease resistance to change of behaviour. It has more potentiality to do the opposite, making it almost impossible to achieve the desired result.

In many African countries and cultures, the biased thinking that a child cannot be brought up to be disciplined without being caned and physically punished is still flourishing. We need to join hands to end torture in children.

Gratitude is one of the high-ranked values in human society. All traditions and religious beliefs converge in the acceptance that gratitude is invaluable and indispensable. Gratitude is one of the social values that have a special commemoration day. Globally, World Gratitude Day is celebrated on 21 September every year.

Doctors and paediatric physical therapists recommend that children should not be made to carry heavy weights exceeding 15 per cent of their body weight. The average weight for a 12-year-old child (both boys and girls) is about 40 kilos. 15 per cent of 40 kilos is 6 kilos. Do we see this as a problem to be addressed, especially in Tanzania?

At many night parties, especially for weddings, birthdays, and others, children dance to entertain adults. This is not new, however, it has taken a different turn. In the past, it was more of a show choreography where children knew their place and delivered just as is appropriate for decent and respectful entertainment. However, the trouble now is that children are made to dance to indecent songs in indecent manners as they see on the internet and on TV.

In looking at matters of children, the mistake we often make is looking at them with the eye of an adult. The result of this is seeing things that children need and enjoy as boring, useless and a waste of time. There is oftentimes a temptation to ignore looking at playing with the eyes of children.

Traditionally, parents and guardians have moral responsibilities to support, protect, provide for, and correct the children under their care, with the goal of helping them develop healthily into their adulthood. This ideal is still in place, though in practice it lingers delicately, as parenting generally becomes more and more lenient by the day.