The Chairperson of the Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association (NAOWA), 1 Division chapter, Mrs Oluchi Okoro, has urged parents to cultivate the habit of listening to their children and wards.
“Not listening to children is one big challenge of parenting in the contemporary societies and we must urgently reverse the obnoxious habit,”she lamented.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)reports that Okoro said this at end of the year Christmas party organised for children within the division’s area of responsibility on Sunday in Kaduna.
She explained,”Listening to children affords parents to be in the picture of their children’s issues and thereby providing them with the best solutions.”
She, therefore, restated the importance of taking care, showing love and guiding children to gurantee a better future for themselves and the nation in general.
Okoro added, “The children are special to us, with this party, we want to ensure they enjoy and have a sense of belonging.
“The children and ourselves have all worked hard during the year, we should have a great time to relax and enjoy ourselves.”
Speaking further, the chairperson said NAOWA has future plans for the barracks’ children which revolve around improving their quality of education.
“We hope this will make more children enroll in our schools. For us, it means we have to set a good standard for them to benefit from.
“We are hoping to also continue educating the teachers so they could impact the needed knowledge to our children.
“We will also continue organising workshops for our NAOWA members so they could manage well the affairs of their children and businesses,”she said.
Okoro restated her committment in continuing with the end of year parties for the children and other endeavours as set by her predecessors to continue giving the children and women a sense of belonging.
Mukthar, a former chairperson of NAOWA 1 Divisiom, said that creating avenue for the children to have fun was a way of making them ease stress and unwind, having been engaged in studies and helping their parents through out the year.
Mukthar.said, “It will further foster love and unity amongst children of the barracks community.”
She thanked the NAOWA chairperson and members of the association for their leadership and committment towards improving the lives of children and women within the 1 division’s area of responsibility.
One of the parents, Mrs Olaronke Tijjani, said making children happy translated to their level of obedience.
She urged the societies to be stakeholders in the proper upbringing of children who were not even theirs.
Tijjani also urged parents to teach their children good manners and kindness to others,emphasing childrens education as critical to future societal and nation’s prosperity.
She also urged parents to be keen on educating the female children, adding, “when you educate the boy child, you educate an individual, but when you educate a female child, you educate the nation.” (NAN)
By Sani Idris