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Opinions of Monday, 10 October 2016

Columnist: Kobina Ansah

Are you not worried?

By Kobina Ansah

Are you worried? You are? About? Are you worried about your kids? Are you not worried that you spend more time with your smart phones and career more than them? Aren’t you worried yet that you know your smart phone better than you know your children? Aren’t you worried enough that they spend a chunk of their lives growing up with people you’ve utterly no idea of?

Are you not worried that you leave the lives of your kids in the hands of a nanny? Aren’t you worried that a nanny is not a mummy? Are you not worried about whatever treatment such will give to them in your absence? Are you not worried that your children are growing up knowing their nanny as their mummy… and their mummy as their nanny?

Are you not worried about what your children may be feeding their senses with? Are you not worried about what materials they may be watching, reading and listening to? Are you not worried that you censor what they eat but not what they watch? Are you not worried that they are likely to become more of what they watch than what they eat? Are you not?

Are you not worried that your children have friends you know not? Are you not worried you’re not one of such friends? Are you not worried of the dangers of not being their friend? Are you not worried that they indeed may listen to their friends more than you? Are you again not worried that they may listen to you better if you were on their friend list?

Are you not worried about who is exposing your children to what? Are you not worried that your child may pick up some weird characters because you didn’t give a hoot about exposing them to the right ones? Aren’t you worried that you know absolutely nothing about how your child’s daily schedule is… yet another elsewhere keeps an eye on every detail of their lives? Are you not even more worried than others may have more influence on them than you? Are you not worried!?

Are you not worried that you are morally not a mentor to them? Are you not worried that they are likely to become another you? Are you not worried that they rehearse in their minds what they see you do habitually? Are you not worried that they may become bullies if you’re a wife beater? Are you not even worried that they may have no shade of morality left in their lives if they keep learning what you do?

Are you not worried that you do not know that your children today are your investment tomorrow? Are you not worried that, as an investor, you’re not carefully monitoring your investment? Are you not worried that how much time you invest in them today will tell how much returns you may benefit from them tomorrow?

Are you not worried that you think your children need your money more than your time? Are you not worried that anybody else can give them money but time makes that striking difference? Are you not worried that they need your time more than your money? Are you not worried that time spent with them becomes a lasting memory but money spent on them is only a temporary expense? Are you not worried? Are you not worried that they spend a chunk of their day with strangers and you spend a chunk of yours with strangers, too? Are you not worried that you both may grow apart as strangers all of your lives?

Well… are you not worried that your friends have become your family and your family has become just another neighbor? Are you even not worried that your wards’ only master may be the remote controller or knob of a gadget? Are you not worried that external influences can mold your children into monsters… even internally? Are you not worried that bad influences don’t need your permission to get into your home? Are you not worried that such influences may only be a click or channel away?

Are you not worried that your kids are more tech savvy than you are? Are you not worried that many of our kids are exposed largely to adult content when they surf the internet? Are you not worried your children are getting to know what they do not need to know as yet? Are you not worried your child’s mindset is forming based on what someone is exposing them to somewhere?

Are you not worried about who your children are online? Are you not worried about who may be chatting with them on Facebook and who may be liking their pictures on Instagram? Are you not worried about what a personality they may have on social media which, of course, you know nothing about? Are you not worried that you have no idea of the scanty dresses and tattered, in-vogue clothes they may be buying and wearing in your absence?

Are you not worried that you have given them too much freedom? Are you not worried that giving exceeding freedom to a child is like giving them a fully loaded rifle? Are you not worried that they may destroy themselves? Are you not worried that their freedom may lead them to slavery? Are you not worried that you supervise your subordinates at work more than your children at home? Are you even not worried your subordinates can barely do without you but you assume your children should just do fine without you?

Are you not worried that you are not worried enough? Are you not worried that others are more worried about your wards than you are? Are you not worried that you do not know your family? Are you not worried that family is the basic unit of society and that if we get it wrong, society breaks down? Are you not worried? Well… am I the only one worried?