Hey Hivers! It's a pleasure to post here again. Hope you all are safe. May God continue to keep all of us safe and well in these hard times, Amen.
This is an amazing topic brought up here by 
We know the talk about "kids of today" has been trending and a lot of people have been called out for terrible parenting so we decided to bring this up with the community to find out how you would do things differently for your kids when you have them or how exactly you're making a difference if you have them already.
There are two things that really stands out for me in this statement. First is the term, Terrible Parenting. The next is that the "kids of today" are in quotes.
I honestly believe the stereotype of the kids of today from people (especially after the recent Chrisland video crisis) is misguided because not all kids are immoral nor are they naturally of bad character.
It all comes down to training.
And who are the first to give a child proper training?
The parents.
It's as easy as that. Even though some factors such as increase in age and change of environment (maybe when leaving home for school) can change some behaviours, as long as there is a good character installment in a person, he or she will never forget what's right or wrong.
Don't get me wrong here when I say training. I definitely don't mean military drills or wicked corrections.
See ehn, there's one thing that some parents really don't understand. Wickedness causes rebellion in the heart of a child. Check am na. There was a man who was complaining that his child is a thief and that he doesn't know why he does it. Anytime he does it, he brings him out into the sun, right in front of his shop, and tells him to kneel down for hours at a time on the heap of gravels beside there with his two hands up in the air. Afterward, he'll flog him mercilessly while reminding him of his actions.
Omo if you ask me, that's just wickedness. How could a person do such a thing? I don't condone bad behaviour, but wickedness isn't the way. Beginning from when a child is more tender, there are ways to correct him or her. You can call the child aside, sit down and talk to him or her in a way he or she will understand on the dangers of what he or she is doing. You can also then want to make him to stop doing it by telling him that if he does it again, you will not do this or that for him anymore. Then, watch the magic.
It works. Don't go around beating your child and disgracing him. It hardens him which will in turn make him not to open up to you during his days of identity crisis in his adolescence age. Wickedness will destroy the parent-child relationship that is most needed.
Another point I want to make is to always be there for your kids. Parents of today never have time for their kids. It's always one excuse or another. Why bother having kids if you won't have time for them or bother to listen to their thoughts? You're so fixed on your job and earning a living that you're forgetting what is of most importance in your life. Sometimes, when our kids are speaking to us, we ignore them, act as though we are listening or picking up only some certain words from the conversation instead of leaving everything you are doing to attend to the child. That's so sad. And after, you'll say that kids of nowadays don't understand anything. Why would they when you didn't have the time to understand them first?
Another point is exposure to the Word of God and all its principles. You have kids with you in your home and you don't even pick out time in the morning for prayers? You don't teach them to pray and all you do is play wordly music all day, even in the car when you're taking them around? Haba, you sef put two and two together na. What do you even expect? Oh, do you think they don't understand the lyrics of those songs? Or do you think they'll just get up on their own and begin to pray if you don't show them how?
As for the part of environment, some parents don't even know the backgrounds of the friends their kids keep. All you know is, "Oh my son has made a new friend," then off you go, back to your busy day. Don't you know that characters mix, and the strongest prevail? Jazz up biko. Know the parents of the kid. Know the capabilities of the kid. Monitor, but with some breathing space.
Talking about internet exposure, the thing is that we are already in a digital age and it gets better day by day. If you think not exposing your child to the internet is a good job, do it. But let me just tell you, it's definitely more harm than good. In the internet age, one needs to learn how to communicate with the internet from an early age. Trust me, if you don't allow them, they will look for a way to get it because everyone (even their friends) use the internet.
However, you should be cautious enough to monitor what they do with the internet. Things such as learning how to download games do not do any harm. I remember as a kid, during the holidays, my dad will bring out a day where we'll take all his phones and download games on them by ourselves so we could play throughout the holidays. I highly believe that no child will even think of using social media until maybe he or she is around 11 or 12 when enough games dey to play.
And then
Do you think kids these days are wired differently or do you think we're overthinking their capabilities and not handling them with the kind of hard hand our parents handled us with?
I laughed at this statement. Look, it depends on the level of your hardness. Don't let hardness turn to wickedness. "Hardness" should be sincere correction where necessary. When you correct, you correct with love. That's what I have to say. Hats off to the parents out there that corrected us with "Hard Hand"馃槀. But remember, some kids will accept while some will rebel. Be wise.
All I've said up there, will, by God's Grace, be how I'll handle my own kids. It all comes down to your love for them and how you show it. Be cautious with your kids cause one day, you'll reap what you sow.
"Train up a child in the way he should go, that when he grows, he will not depart from it."
Thank you.
Ndeewo.
Merci.
Gracias.
Arigato.
Let's Go Hive!