There is a natural responsibility on parents to love, nurture, care for and make their children happy. One of the greatest desires of parents is to see to the well-being of their children. But cautions must be taken in the process of performing such parental functions so as not to over love, over care, over nurture and over-indulge the children. This, if not well handled, may result in spoiling them and interfering with their future maturity, thus reducing their own sense of responsibility and future accomplishment.

Spoiling someone means over indulging him so as to cause him to demand or expect too much when in reality there is no need for it. A spoilt child will grow up to become an irresponsible, prodigal and fake adult. Therefore, parents should take note of the following three major areas of a child’s needs.

1. Attention: It is a good thing to give necessary and moderate attention to the children and their needs because through it, you get to know their feelings and what they are passing through. But pampering and over-solicitous attention will, no doubt, damage, limit and make them to become baby-adults who will lack self-confidence and self-reliance to face life’s reality. It has been observed in the pre-primary section that children to whom too much attention is given, take too long, and find it very difficult, to adapt to the reality of necessary and temporary daily separation caused by the school and the home.
2. Materials: Providing material needs for the children is every parent’s responsibility. But parents must be very careful not to over indulge their children in unnecessary and expensive material things such as mobile phones, toys, clothes, shoes, etc because some children often identify their self-worth with such material acquisitions, especially when comparing themselves with their peers. Parents must show their children that their true value lies in their mental development and inner qualities such as honesty, kindness creativity and compassion rather than in material possession.

• Money: Money matters in virtually everything these days. Nevertheless, parents can avoid future grief and financial difficulty by instilling good financial value in their children as early as possible. It is never too early for parents to start teaching the kids the value of money. Kids who learn how to manage money early will generally grow up to become self-sufficient adults. Parents can do this by setting good examples and show restraint and demonstrate the importance of hard work and effort towards earning a living. If we want our children to grow up to be financially responsible adults, we must teach them to understand the value of money and how to handle it from the childhood. One of the most precious gifts we can give to our children is the true independence they gain when they learn to earn a living. When they leave home, you can be confident that you have raised children who can stand on their own feet.

Mr. Gbenga Odebunmi
Primary School.