Be intentional about parenting, Cleric charges parents

Ven. Christopher Ogbodo, Anglican cleric in-charge of Enugwu-Ukwu Archdeaconry, Awka Diocese, on Saturday charged parents to take parenting business seriously.

Ogbodo, also Vicar of Immanuel Parish, Enugwu-Ukwu, noted that most parents had placed the acquisition of vain worldly materials above their duty of raising Godly children.

"Eighty per cent per cent of societal ills emanate from poor home training,'' he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugwu-Ukwu, Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra.

Ogbodo said that as future leaders, the need for the proper upbringing of children could not be over emphasised.

"The quest for materialism is the bane of the family as the nucleus of the society,'' he noted and enjoined parents to restore family values to ensure proper upbringing of their children.

He said quality child upbringing should involve parents and elders around the child and urged all to return to the drawing board, detect where the family had failed and make amends.

He also advised parents to save their children from the prevailing societal negative influences through intensive care and prayers.

"Parents need to teach their children good morals and core values before they are sent to school.

"Basic training starts from the home while the teachers and other adults around the children make their contributions.

"Leaving your children in the hands of domestic staff is not the way to go,'' he admonished.

The vicar urged governments at all levels to give concession to working mothers to perform their duty of child rearing so as to save the country from delinquent children.

Ogbodo also appealed to governments to focus more on the provision of basic amenities like roads, electricity, employment opportunities and other infrastructure that would improve the living standards of the people.