Felix-Adejumo, Others Encourage Parents to Love, Invest More in Children

Rebecca Ejifoma

Global speakers like Funke Felix-Adejumo, among others, have encouraged parents globally to love and invest in their children more.

This counsel was one of the highlights of the third edition of the Parents Forum powered by the I Need to Know Foundation in Lagos state.

With the theme, “Parenting against All Odds”, the President of the Funke Felix-Adejumo Foundation, Funke Felix-Adejumo (a Reverend), succinctly drove home her points.

“The illiterate of the 21st Century are not the people that can read and write,” she cited. “But the people that cannot unlearn.

“We need to start learning. This generation we are dealing with is knowledge-based.”

Her counsel to parents includes loving, training, befriending and listening to their children. “Do this so that they will become vulnerable. They have feelings, too.”

While underscoring the significance of such a family conference, Felix-Adejumo expressed dissatisfaction at the low turnout of fathers.

Her words: “I expected that we would have more fathers here. There’s a time bomb that is ticking. We need to start investing in our children.”

She also reminded parents and guardians that the child they nurture today would nourish them tomorrow.

Arguing that the labour age has long withered, the global speaker and author cautioned parents against being swayed by social media. “Not everything that glitters is gold,” she chipped in.

The Founder of the I Need to Know Foundation, Mrs Vivian Kayode-Yusuf, said the initiative stemmed from their work with children, teenagers and young adults.

“Following our interaction with them,” she noted, “we saw the need to follow up on parents”.

She and her team saw the need to bring the parents into the picture. “It will amaze you that most of these children, in themselves, are good. For a lot of them, their parents are their problems.”

Kayode-Yusuf, however, lamented the sordid number of absent parents and those who are “too busy doing nothing”.

According to her, she continues to caution parents of the imminent danger of not paying attention to their children.

“If you make all the money in the world, and your children are nowhere to be found, who are you making the money for?” she argued.

The convener, therefore, called for parents to be available for their children. “We need parents that will groom these children.

“Once the home is intact,” she reminded the parents, “it has a ripple effect on the society at large.”

For Kayode-Yusuf, parents must step into their children’s world and think how they think. “They are the why-generation children; know them. Buying gifts isn’t enough. Be there for them.”

Other speakers, who engaged the minds of parents and guardians, included the President of the Global Centre for Drug Eradication, Mr Keji Hamilton, the CEO of No Left-Over Nigeria Ltd, and Mrs Ayodeji Megbope.