Parenting: Examples from Male/Female Literary Works

Abstract

The task of parenting is an enormous one which often put pressure on mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and the rest of society. As the population of the world increases rapidly every day, urgent steps must be taken to stem the tide of crime, violence, drugs abuse, delinquency, school drop-out, teenage pregnancies etc in the society. Most of the delinquent behaviours are caused by negligence on the part of parents to live up to their responsibilities while others are due to peer group pressure. In the absence of parental upbringing and care-givers, children turn to other socialization agencies like the ICT, films, videos, radios, books, social networks like the Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp etc to learn new and more fascinating ways of getting acceptability. It is therefore important for parents to watch over their children, know the types of friends and companies they keep so that they do not fall prey to social vices. This paper seeks to explore different forms of parenting in select-African novels, as well as show the need for parents to be committed to the parenting of their children/wards. The paper argues that parents as a matter of exigency spend quality time with their children so as to guide them through the process of growth and development. The future of our children and indeed the society lie in proper parenting so that they do not become delinquents and rabble-rousers in the society.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n6p21