Child Discipline is a Societal Responsibility
Mrs Winifred Adzande
winifredadzande@gmail.com
Recently I listened to a man; an octogenarian who said what “best practice elsewhere is not best practice everywhere.” This is to prove wrong the assumption that what obtains in west (Europe and America) is not the same as what obtains in our clime (Africa). Change is the only permanent thing in our existence, but when it comes to changing what is good, to bad, it becomes a misnomer. This is the situation with “Child Discipline” in our contemporary African society.
In our context, child discipline is the process of bringing up a child to meet up with the right morals that make society a better place. This entails that a disciplined child is a blessing to his society, whereas a child that is not disciplined is a problem to his society. In Africa, before the age of “civilization, ” child discipline was a collective responsibility of the entire society. What this means is that everyone had to discipline every other child irrespective of parental or lineage attachment. It was the duty of all, to make sure a child was schooled with the right morals. Whenever a child was caught doing the wrong thing, corporal punishment was not spared, provided he was unlucky to meet an elder in the act.
Today, you dare not reprimand, talk more of beat up someone else’s child. This is because of the borrowed culture from the western climes where corporal punishment is prohibited. To borrow from certain cultures to enrich ours is good, but forfeiting those good aspects of our tradition in the name of “westernization” is bad. In reality, the community combined method of disciplining a child yielded better results.
It is a sad reality that even teachers these days have enormous limitations in child discipline. In some instances, teachers have lost their jobs in line of duty; trying to reprimand or correct the children entrusted in their care. Some have faced and are facing different degrees of litigations, for doing a job that was hitherto rewarded.
The worse point is that parents and society have not checked where the problem aroused. Most kids today are drugs/substance abuse addicts, cultists and criminal gangsters, no thanks to westernization. A good or bad child is a product of a home. His societal impact (positive or negative) has more to do with his upbringing.
Every parent wants to take responsibility for a good child, but not for a bad child. The consequence is that we all fall back to these societies where these kids carryout reign of terror or good deeds. It is on this ground that everyone must wake up.
The internet age has made the world a global village. What affects one clime generates to other climes. Therefore, the onus is on us to return back to the basis. The concept of child upbringing in Africa was one of the best, if not the best. Child discipline was a societal responsibility; it was about the “community eyes;” watching their actions and actions. So everyone; just anyone could call the child doing wrong to order. Corporal punishment was not spared. The situation has changed today. Even the Holy Bible admonishes corporal punishment where it says: “He who spares the rod hates his son: but he who loves him disciplines him gently and early” Proverbs 13:24.
