June 6, 2018

A British muralist and children’s books author, Polly Alakija, on Wednesday, said that most children in Africa lost their God-given talents to dysfunctional parenting.

Alakija told the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Lagos that good parenting was core to developing natural potentialities in children.

According to her, the economic pressure in Africa demands more work hours from parents, to meet up with their responsibilities, and this deprives parents the opportunity to spend time in discovering their children.

“Spending time with your children will afford you the privilege to have face-to-face conversations with them that will showcase their personality traits and character.

“Such conversations create emotional intimacy that will allow your kids to open up and express themselves in the best ways possible.

“Unfortunately, the schedules of parents have proven to be tight; therefore, it becomes more difficult to spend quality time with their children, ” she said.

Alakija said that parenting should be handled as a job that should be properly studied, since it required instilling culture and way of life in children.

“The growth or decline of every society starts and ends with parents, and their ability to handle and groom their children and wards.

“In that regard, parenting status should be carefully thought through before anyone decides to assume the role of parenting.

“No doubt, some people are less prepared for children, and the sacrificial nature careering for them come with,” she said.

Idris Ahmed, a psychologist, said that failure to identify and develop children’s talents at the appropriate age would lead to a natural dearth of their talents.

“I have observed that when the innate gifts or talents are not identified early enough, they tend to lose touch with it.

“It is a clarion call to urge parents to carefully observe their children in order to discover what they enjoy doing.

“With that, they can be encouraged to take up careers that will suit their natural abilities,” he said.