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.
he digital space conditions us to work at its own speed, which is considerably faster as compared to the normal human thought and task processing speed. While we are able to process tasks more deeply with our mental strengths, we are not left undamaged when we switch our attention every 40 seconds (the said global average) to different, and oftentimes unrelated tasks.
The reason why the word ‘lifestyle’ is used to cover a whole lot of rejected behaviours is its perceived neutrality. When one says, ‘it’s just a lifestyle’ it suggests harmlessness and absence of need for interference as it is ‘just’ a lifestyle; Akin to saying, doing the same thing in a little bit of a different way. oung people are not at the service of lifestyles without a damage to their own very person.
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.
Short of appropriate limits, raising young people would become a dangerous “all-join” as Nigerians would say; A situation where everything is allowed, to any extent desired by the parts involved, for any reason, anywhere, and at any time. But this is not how life works.
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?
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.
The children who this year 2023 are learning under trees are technically expected to globally compete with their peers in the job market in 18 years. Are we expecting them to run at the same pace as other children in the country and the world at large while they are left behind in all aspects of learning?
Literacy in a widened understanding goes beyond the conventional, i.e. ‘reading and writing’ as the global dream incorporates the impartation of skills which help to nurture talents and also to foster measurable and functional participation in society.