I woke up this morning reminiscing about a conversation I had with a friend. We were talking about how some of the young people we used to mentor back in the day were succumbing to lousy advice regarding professional development. That got me sad 1- because I know the potential of these kids 2- In many cases it was because of parents. So I decided to put this piece together, Caribbean parents stop doing this immediately.
1- Trying to live your lives through your kids– Ok the trust is, I know some of you may have had some lost dreams or dreams you had to put on hold and the only way for you to live that dream is through your kids. So, you force them down a path they absolutely hate, just because you like it. You’ve always wanted to be a doctor, but since you couldn’t be a doctor, you think your kids should be. That’s not cool.
2- Judging your kids by other people’s standards– The neighbor’s kids always places in the top three in school or they may be an A student. Your kid is a C student and you mad at them. You know, maybe, just maybe, academics is not their thing, perhaps they are a more technically skilled person. Albert Einstein once said, we are all genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life thinking it is stupid. I believe CSEC and CXC have a similar flaw, but that’s something for another day.
3- Giving advice you are not qualified to give– Ok you’re the parent, and I get it, at the end of the day you may know what’s best for your kids more than others. But give me a minute to explain myself. Some of you limit your kids potential, sometimes not willingly, but because of your inability to see how far they can go. When I was going to Mexico to study, I told my father (God bless his soul), I told him I was going to study, and his response was, “You going back to school again, you en tired.” It wasn’t out of malice; he just didn’t understand that there were greater things I wanted to aspire to. Obviously, I didn’t listen, I have done both a bachelors and masters since then, but guess who was walking all over Grenada extremely proud talking about his big son that have a degree.
4- Calling Your Kids Name– Yow, stop calling your kids names, stop telling them they are stupid or telling them they’re no good or “you worthless just like you no good father” or “You go be a whore just like your mother.” After a while, kids start to believe these things. They will be going out into the world, and the world is a mean and nasty place, and if they are not equipped to deal with it from home, it will eat them alive. Calling them names and putting them down will do some severe damage to their self-esteem and image.
5- Beating your kids- ……Yeah right, some of them deserve a good cut-ass
Real 5- Telling the DJ to announce your kid’s name and tell them it’s time to go– Ok, to be honest, I don’t know if this is still done, but when I was younger, nuff time I am in a fete with my crew. We dancing, I jamming a nice girl and all of a sudden the mike man announce, Kimron Corion, Janice looking for you, she ready to go home. After that joke on your for days.