One glaring fact about children is that they will always abide by the teachings of their parents either consciously or unconsciously especially when they are still younger. We all passed through this stage in life not minding what we have become now as individuals but there is something very disturbing about how we were able to swallow everything we were thought as children both hook, line and sinker. It will not be out of place for me to say that learnt the good, the bad and the ugly as we were growing up. Can you remember those days when your parents made you hate one neighbour, uncle or auntie without you having any clue as to why you should hate them? This was how our parents made us rationalize hatred for others without having any second thought.
Let me be a little direct here, how many times were you forced as a kid by your parents, not to greet your neighbour, uncle or even an auntie? I know you understand what I am saying right now because we all did this even though it was never any fault of ours. Yes, we were made to see it as a normal thing me while it was wrong. Should I blame the parents for transferring the hatred they had on someone on us even as we knew nothing about it? a lot of children has been made to suffer one form of wickedness or ill-treatment because they followed the footsteps of their parents. If a child is meant to suffer because he did what his parents told him to do, what should be done to the parents for making the child do such a thing?
I know some of you will not understand this probably because you were lucky to have been trained by parents who loved peace more than anything else in life. Be that as it may, there is a great need for me to talk about it because most persons who found themselves in this mess are seriously fighting to make amends but all to no avail. It is one thing to hate someone and it is another thing to repair the damages made while hating the person. This is the predicament of most persons who lived throughout their childhood hating on someone who did absolutely nothing to them. What am I trying to say in this article?
As a parent, you must have made some enemies on your way to success, it is not right that you should turn your children into enemies with whoever you are in enmity with. The reason is not far-fetched, by the time you practically force your children to see someone as their enemy even when they do not know why or what the person might have done, you are directly shutting a door that might be of help to them in the future.
I have seen cases where a young man lost a good contract which could have changed his life because the man in charge of awarding the contract has been tagged an enemy right from when this young man was still a child. His parents made him hate the man and he did so as required of him as a child to always obey his parents. Now, he is left with no choice other than to suffer the consequences alone not minding that he knew absolutely nothing or why the hatred started at first.
This is not the type of article you will see and just rush through it because if we do not do the right things as humans, it will always hunt us whether directly or indirectly.
An Advice to the Parents
How I wish a lot of parents will read this article or better still I would be happy if we can share this article so that the message herein will spread like wildfire.
As a parent, have you made the mistake of turning your children into enemies of your enemy? Have you made them hate even without them having any knowledge as to why they hate the person? Remember that you are not their parents because you chose to be rather it was because you were given the privilege by God to be their earthly parents. Let us take a leaf from God. God did not force us to hate the devil rather he told us about what the devil has done and all his wickedness leaving us to choose by ourselves.
As parents, we can live and train our children in the same manner. There is no need to make your children hate a person without them having the choice to do so. If for any reason you are in enmity with someone as a parent, what you should do is to let your children know what the person did to you and then allow them to decide whether to hate the person or not especially when the evil is not directly connected to the family. Parents must be ready to do their best not to allow hatred to linger because once a child is made to hate someone such a child will grow up hating that person for life.
Instead of hatred, teach your children forgiveness and love at all times because that will lead them to the right path in life. Remember that a day will come when you will no longer be there to direct and correct, therefore let every correction which you should give them start now as they are still very much younger. Do not make them rationalize hatred.
"how many times were you forced as a kid by your parents, not to greet your neighbour, uncle or even an auntie?" - Dude, NONE! Not even once! My parents were polite people. lol.