FAMILY: The Smallest Unit of a Nation

FAMILY: The Smallest Unit of a Nation

-         Yikwab Andeyantso

There is no doubt that the family is a microcosm of the larger society, a mirrored image of what every community or nation looks like.

Like the cell in every living organism, the family is the smallest functional unit of the society and constitute what the builders will call building-blocks, without which no house can come into being. But unlike the builders� block children are almost always �chips off the old block�; they look and behave like their parents. This is borne out of the fact that the first port of call for every child coming into this world is the family and every trait exhibited by the child later in life is learnt and internalized through the child�s interaction with his/her family (family orientation). This is aside from their natural inherited characteristics from the parents. Now when parents express shock at certain behavioral traits exhibited by their children/ward, I laugh because they fail to see that these children only mirror and project what they (the parents) really are. For instance, how does a child know that to get certain grades believed to be the best in school, he/she could buy such with money or even change the grades using correcting fluid bought from a bookshop?

It is said that any house that is built on a shaky foundation cannot stand. One of the holy books declared concerning this, that �if the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do�. Apart from the function of providing for a child�s physical needs such as food, shelter and clothing, it is the statutory responsibility of the family to provide for the child�s psychological as well as emotional, needs. To do this, the family must strive to ensure that only good morals are taught to the children, and parents must endeavor to live above board as they interact with them.

There is an African wise saying that �one who goes through the high grass where an elephant had gone past does not get soaked with dew.� What this means is that children who are privileged to have parents and elder siblings are supposed to be well behaved compared to those who are without any because of the guidance possible if the person providing the guidance is properly guided on the right track and above in all his/her dealings.

It therefore behooves every parents and even every elder siblings to strive to do the right thing at all times as children in their typical copycat nature are always watching and will replicate whatever they see the elders do, believing them to be the correct things to do. No nation can make any meaningful progress and take its pride of place among nations when it is consumed by the canker worm of corruption and other vices a legacy bequeathed this generation by the older generation. Parents must provide the correct and necessary guidance for the children of this generation to ensure a brighter future built on the foundation of good morals and values.

                                                                                    #HappyFamilyDay

We celebrate the International Day of Families.....