Parenting is one of life’s most profound responsibilities. It is not defined by perfection, wealth, or status, but by the consistent effort to nurture, guide, and love a child through every stage of growth. In a world filled with different parenting styles and opinions, many often ask: What truly measures a good parent? The answer lies not in grand gestures, but in everyday actions that shape a child’s character, confidence, and future. 1. Presence Over Perfection A good parent is not one who never makes mistakes, but one who shows up consistently. Being present—emotionally and physically—matters more than being flawless. Children do not need perfect parents; they need attentive ones who listen, care, and participate in their lives. Whether it is helping with homework, attending school events, or simply having meaningful conversations, presence builds trust and security. 2. Love That Is Both Warm and Firm Love is the foundation of parenting, but it must be balanced. True parental love ...

The saying, "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6), suggests that early moral, ethical and behavioral foundations laid during a child's formative years create a lasting imprint, guiding their character and choices into old age. This speaks to durability of proper upbringing which acts as an anchor, keeping children aligned with those initial values notwithstanding the external pressure or shifts in Societal values. When applied to the moral collapse and lack of nobility in some societies, the saying calls for some interpretations. If we observe a decline in some values like honesty, integrity and communal responsibility in some people's lives, it may imply that the formative training of contemporary generations has shifted from the old values or failed to instill them effectively. The proverb implies consistency in "the way he should go" defined by traditional, moral, or noble ide...

Most Igbo parents choose to raise their children primarily in English language without weighing the adverse implications in their formative years . Any perceived positive implications cannot stand the test of time in the final analysis. Let's dlve into these implications beginning with the negative ones. 1. There is this ongoing erosion of Igbo language and cultural identit y, compared with other competitive Nigerian languages and cultures. This also affects the culture, history, oral tradition , thought life and values of the families concerned. Children brought up in English will have a disconnect from their roots . They will not learn the all-important proverbs , folklores , oral traditions, stories and games rooted in Igbo language and culture . Such children will struggle with bonding with their grand parents and other rural relatives who do not speak or understand English. They will thus struggle to engage with their heritage. With time passage this will weaken the transmis...

Parenting, though a very serious business, has a lot of fun attached to it. Come to think of it, every married couple feels a kind of vacuum within a few months after marriage if there is delay in conception by the woman. Inherent in the feeling of loss is the unvoiced expectation of a baby to cuddle, breastfeed and bond with to gratify the gaping yawn for motherhood, which is mistaken for parenting.  When a baby does arrive, the joy in the mother's heart knows no bounds until the baby's cries and other unsettling activities manifest. Young mothers need not be overwhelmed with the demanding responsibilities of child care especially with respect to parenting. Parenting derives its pleasure from a commitment to raising offspring that would turn out a blessing in the long run for the child, parents and society at large, following the obedience of parents to the demands of the creator God. God in his infinite wisdom has given children parents for a purpose: to nurture offspring tha...

Positive parenting is godly parenting.  God has a purpose and plan for the family. God is sovereign in that the book of Genesis , the record of the beginnings, has it that "In the beginning God..." We read this in Genesis 1:1 .  This speaks to the fact that life is all about God. It is clear that apart from God there is nothing else. No God, no beginning; no creation. It is that simple. We must understand this as it also speaks to the fact that God assumes sole ownership - patent right, over all creation. Hence, God dictates and decrees the way. We read in Genesis 18:17-19 , the demands of God as he apparently boasted about his friend Abraham . That he was fully aware that Abraham would unfailingly direct his children and household after him to follow God's way by obeying all his commands. God was confident that Abraham would be a role model in children's proper upbringing. We thus realise that God's purpose and plan for the family is that the name of God should b...

Child Growth and Development fall into a specialist area of psychology and one of the family life education books referred to in my course of preparatory studies for marriage, by Allan Petersen J., The Marriage Affair , devoted a voluminous chapter to the issue of how the child develops with respect to age and necessary character traits and behavioral patterns to expect and hence properly manage in order to achieve positive behaviors and characters in contrast to the natural bent based on proven research and informed experience. Natural bent refers to the tendency of the individual to do things the wrong way unless a corrective or disciplinary measure is applied to stop or minimize the unapproved behavior, character or action. Parents who allow their children to grow with such traits with the hope that they will drop them later in life when they become conscious of what is good or bad live to regret their failures or develop defense mechanisms to cover their ignorance of th...

We have attempted to place the responsibility of children's upbringing squarely on respective parents. We have seen that parenting is a very serious business and that it requires certain maturity levels to qualify as a parent, judging from the point of view of divinity as man is known to be a divine creature. We now have to go into concepts and ideas about the art of parenting. Parenting is largely a form of life long mentoring of offspring with the view of imparting acceptable character traits and behaviors into children. The chief person with the gravest responsibility in this case is the man of the house. As the head of the family, he is looked up to by the creator and the procreation for provision for and direction in all ramifications. Having been mature enough to marry, and having studied to gain knowledge, he then understands how to influence the child from birth for positive character traits and how to exert the necessary disciplinary measures on the child for correction...

From conception, a mother begins to play her role somewhat naturally. However, the natural attachment has tended to cause the mother to neglect positive information that will help make her a better parent. The foremost being that her role in proper upbringing of the child is complementary notwithstanding how naturally attached the child has been to her. Unless she knows that God made it so she will engage in rivalry with the husband for the leadership in the house. This rivalry as a result of ignorance of her proper role will cause her to engage in undue protection of the child from the father's influence hence fracturing the child's proper development. In fact, a child so shielded by the mother from the father's proper influence in his early years of development can easily be spotted out there in the society due to character deficiency. What then is the proper role of a mother in the upbringing of a child? Now, a mother should concentrate on the natural roles and submit t...

We have attempted to place the responsibility of children's upbringing squarely on respective parents. We have seen that parenting is a very serious business and that it requires certain maturity levels to qualify as a parent judging from the point of view of divinity as man is known to be a divine creature. We now have to go into concepts and ideas about the art of parenting. Parenting is largely a form of life-long mentoring of offspring with the view of imparting acceptable character traits , attitudes and behaviors into children. The chief person with the gravest responsibility in this case is the man of the house. As the head of the family, he is looked up to by the creator and the procreation for provision, direction and protection in all ramifications. Having been mature enough, he understands how to influence the child from birth for positive character traits and how to exert the necessary disciplinary pressures on the child for correction of tendency for natural bent . B...