A letter to the Nigerian mother

Guest Post

By Temidayo Ahanmisi

Dear Nigerian mother,

Your children would only remember how good your jollof rice tasted in the short & far-between moments of affordable nostalgia in the years to come.

The sacrifices you make today of leaving job, career and living just to make sure your kids breastfeed to age 3 or 10, or have the most stocked lunch box at school might not translate into a life of future success for them in the manner you have envisioned.

Conscious parenting and being family with vision is a better guarantee for prosperity.

What you tell your children about themselves and the world is important. What you learn is important. Look to your own development and the strengthening of your mind.

These are stringent times and the Universe is re-aligning Itself as It evolves. Our world is changing.

The children of the strong will chew the children of the weak and spit them out.
Read your children's books. Do homework with them. Spend more on their education and learning than you do on their clothes and snacks.

Play with them. There is more to play than just horsing around. Watch TV with them. These moments will pass soon enough.

Being a mother is much more than we've always been told. The memories you should evoke in your kids shouldn't be all about the smell of milk, cooking and expensive head ties. The sound of mom shouldn't be all about prancing about in church meetings & prayers, in gossip and talk about house keeping & gossip about neighbors and enemies.

Your daughter needs to learn more from you than how to cross her legs and clean up after the boys. She needs to learn self respect and to know that her brain is for reading & rigorously exploring broad logic.

The future is NOT designed for Nigerian or African children. It is not designed to cuddle the weak.
There are no affirmative actions for the unprepared, and a vagina will no longer be insurance for future enjoyment.

Woman. Be more than female. Be human. Raise humans.



Here's a link to an article on parental love:
http://womanwithadifference.blogspot.com/2012/12/on-parental-love.html

Please share this letter to every woman in your circle of influence. Remember that that grown human that you see today was 'trained' by a woman. And to the extent that the woman's mind is developed is she able to give to her offspring. Envision a world (society) where children are taught the values and principles of fairness, respect, hard work, love, truth, reasoning, justice right from the home and the school (where most teachers are women by the way). We have a huge responsibility to bring up the next generation of humans, we'll do well to not fail.


 About Temidayo Ahanmisi
Temidayo Ahanmisi is a young, dynamic and passionate Nigerian. A liberated mind, she is an inspiration to the young generation who clamour for change within the black man's homeland. She lives in Nigeria.