I love Asa's "Fire on the Mountain", very poignant song that speaks to a whole spectrum of situations, but the one verse that resonates so much with me?
This one:
Tell me, who's responsible
For what we teach our children?
Is it the internet?
Or the stars on television?
Why o why o
Recently, there has been a lot of talk about Nicky Minaj, Beyonce, Tiwa Savage etc... They are a negative influence on our children. They way they dress could influence our children wrongly, blablabla
I honestly am beginning to think that no parent worth their weight in salt (or onions), should ever hold or voice that opinion.
What is the longest a music video starring perhaps Tiwa Savage in her latest, sheer, all but the modesty patches, net outfit, can run? Maximum of 5 minutes. So, do we assume that someone who carried a child in her womb for 9 months, after so many months of trying, suckled her child at breast for long enough (or maybe not), raised the child through the toddling stages, through elementary school et al suddenly exposes that child to 5 minutes of a music video and that is it?
Poof! All your years of careful raising gone. The child suddenly finds him/herself dressing in figure hugging and revealing outfits, sports tattoos all over their bodies and generally goes around being the exact opposite of whatever you raised him or her to be?
Come off it please. Tiwa Savage is not your babysitter. You cannot pay her enough to do that. Neither is Nikki Minaj or Beyonce. If you think these ladies are role models for your little ones then listen carefully to the following Public Service Announcement: No they are not! You are! You SHOULD be.
My nine year old follows me around the house and I see her trying sometimes, to do things the way I would do them. She wants to dress up like me sometimes, wants to cook the way she sees me do, likes to dog my footsteps. If I can not raise a child that looks up to me and says, "I want to be like mummy when I grow up, maybe even better", then I most definitely should not blame the stars on television if my child chooses an alternative lifestyle.
Perhaps Charly Boy's father is yet to find someone to blame for his son's flamboyant outlook on life.
You are the one your child was entrusted to. You should be your child's role model. Make out time to be with your children and instill in them the values you want them to have. While doing that, acknowledge the fact that once they are old enough, they will chart their course and go their own way and there might be absolutely nothing you can do to stop that.
Whatever you do, stop blaming the stars on television when YOU have so clearly abdicated your responsibilities as a parent.
Tenkiu!
