BEING A PARENT

I usually find myself thinking about the kind of parent I'm going to be. I know for a fact that parenting isn't easy, but one thing I aim to become is a parent who would raise children who would make a good impact in society. I've found myself thinking a lot about a number of things that I would face with my children, knowing myself, how I grew up, the mistakes I made, and mistakes I saw my parents made, the things I wished my parents handled better and most of all I consider the how the coming generation is taking things. After putting all these into consideration in my head I tell myself parenting isn't child's play and I know it would be even harder by the time my children become teenagers and see me as old school, however, at the end of the day I would try to do my best and more for my family as a father.

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One of the things that gave my mother high blood pressure was when she discovered that the good son she thought she was raising was everything opposite her imagination of whom she raised, although there were loose ends on her side, but every action and decision I took was solely mine. One of the lost ends from my parents, especially my mum, was thinking they knew me then. In the real sense, it was me who knew them and knew how to easily fool them. They tried raising me to fear things I do not understand which by the way wasn't in my nature, and if they had known me, I'm certain they would have tried another approach

Growing up I was very adventurous and would want to try out things that scared me to hell. To date, I'm still that kind of person but with better knowledge to always be careful. I was reckless then not minding the consequences of my actions. So each time I was told to not do something with an intent to scare me away from it, or a threat to ensure I didn't do it, I found a way to carefully do it and ensure it was not traced to me. So when my mother discovered I had always been Astray because I told her everything in a bid to repent, she realized that there was nothing she could have done in her power and knowledge that she didn't do for me then. But I also realized something, the threats may have not worked, I might have refused to be scared, but every word of advice and understanding she gave me remained with me to date.

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So if at all I'm going to try to become a father, that would change the narrative from how I was trained and train my children with love and trust instead of fear. However, I can only do my best as a human being, and if for any reason a child of mine decides to be something negative out of what I've trained them to be, I will be hurt, but I won't be angry. I will try to understand where that child is coming from, and probably take time off to understand the decision they have made and how they have come to see life. Then (If the child is still within my reach or a minor). I would watch them from afar as an eagle watches its child when it throws the child down a cliff in a bid to teach it to fly.

In the process of watching the child, I would try to control to the best of my capacity the bad results of the actions that child would take without the child's knowledge so they don't go into life-threatening trouble, but the idea is to give that child an avenue to learn from experience. If there's anything I've learned is that it's sometimes better to allow children to experience things themselves, trusting that those seeds you've spent years implanting in them will come out under pressure of the actions they take or are about to take, and then they will better understand what you have taught them. Overall, I will let my children understand they can never be too much of a disappointment for me, and they can always come back home no matter how bad it gets. Well, it's easier to write… So help me God.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S PROMPT FOR WEEK 113 EPISODE 2