The responsibility of bringing up children who are morally upright solely lies with parents even though teachers, relatives, friends and the community plays a role in one way or another.
However, parents nowadays have stepped aside and the burden of instilling discipline or providing guidance to the young people lies with the teachers, no wonder it becomes a thorn in the flesh when teachers goes on strike or students are home for holidays.
It has been a long blame game between teachers and parents as to who should instill discipline in the young ones.
Parents have been for a while blamed teachers claiming that they stay with students for a long time in school while they only get time to fully interact with their children fully during April, August or December holidays for the boarders and probably during the weekends for the day scholars, but I believe parents have failed their teens when it comes to upbringing.
Nowadays, youth have to move out of their compounds in order to get role models.
Parents are supposed to be the first and probably the sole role models for their kids.
Today, it is easy to find a parent drinking alcohol in a pub with his son. The young girls in society are being dated by people who are supposed to be their fathers while boys enjoy themselves with women who are of their mother’s age.
The society is rotten to an extent that a teenager can have the courage to seek permission from parents to engage in a night out with friends, which may not be bad, but it should be noted that the very nights are the reasons for increased pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections
Today parents do not follow up on what their children do or whom they spend time with.
It is easy for a parent to give his/her teen money for shopping but doesn’t care whether the shopping was done or not, where the shopping was done or who accompanied the kid during the shopping spree.
That is evidently portrayed by the recent occurrence in Eldoret where school-going children were found in an illegally operating pub drinking, smoking and engaging in sex.
Some parents came out claiming that they gave their children money for shopping just for them to end up in a pub.
Why did they not accompany them for the activity or rather assigned somebody for that duty?
What happened in Eldoret is exactly what is happening in Kisumu; the only difference is that it has not been reported or the teens have not been found enjoying themselves illegally and unlawfully in groups.
In this county, I see on a daily basis parents who are carefree, parents who cannot go to school to be updated on their son or daughter’s academic performance, parents whose sole responsibility is to ensure food is on the table and I ask myself, where did good parenting go?
As the youth enjoy their freedom provided for in the constitution, parents should take time to talk to their children about the risks in society.
It is bad for the children to grow ignorantly in a society where HIV/Aids is prevalent; abortion is the order of the day, insecurity, drugs and sexual sprees here and there.
While the voice of choice is important among the young people, it is important for parents to know whom their teens spend time with, and how they spend their time.
That can be achieved by the parent inviting their children’s friends probably for lunch or dinner.
Parents should know that the sole responsibility of bringing up teens that are morally upright lies with them and not teachers, friends, relatives or the community.