DOWEN AND OUTSOURCED PARENTING

In every society, children are the greatest asset that any community can possess; potentially, they are the greatest investment for a society’s sustainable development and future. However, children are usually prone to many behavioural influences during their
youthful phase of life which can either make or mar their future— youthful exuberance.

If children are not well-managed in this phase of life, it always leads to a number of unspeakable things, one of which is cultism. Lately, cultism has been making the headlines
in the papers. Last month, November 25, a Divisional Police Officer Ignatius Alimeke and three students were reportedly injured following clashes involving rival cult groups operating in two public secondary schools in Ogun State.

Similarly, some few days ago, Sylvester Oromoni, a 12-year-old student of Dowen College in Lekki, Lagos died after he was allegedly tortured and given a harmful substance by some
senior students in the school, over his alleged refusal to join a cult group.

One of the causes of this raging problem of kids and cultism can be attributed to the individual family or household. The family has totally failed in its duty to inculcate morals and social values in its offsprings; which is partly due to economic difficulties
and institutional breakdowns. Perhaps, most parents today do not spend enough time with their wards, rather they have outsourced parenting in order to escape their parental responsibilities so that they may have sufficient time to transact their businesses which will in turn generate income for the family
upkeep.

As a result of this, most children grow into youth lacking appropriate upbringing and knowledge of social norms; this has led to astronomical increase in the numbers of miscreants, street urchins, cultist and rapist prevalent among the youth in the society— an
example of the Dowen boys in the news.

Additionally, exposure to violent media messages and movies has in no small way contributed to this as majority of our youth today have turned drug addicts. Without wasting words, the whole blame goes to the school owner, staffers, and parents who failed to read the reactions and behaviors of their students; and parents who failed to study
and listen to their children during holidays from the school. Be so friendly to your children that they see you as your lord and saviour.

Adisa Fatai Folorunso,
Abeokuta