A new book, entitled '21st Century Parenting' has been added to the Nigerian book market. The book, written by a seasoned educationist and childcare expert, Mrs. Ayoola Oluseyi Tehingbola, gives guidance and direction on how parents can help their children tap and utilize their gift for success in life.
At an event to officially present the book to the public, the book reviewer, Mr. Lekan Otufudunrin, Online Editor of The Nation newspaper, noted that coping with the task of parenting the 21st century child is one task that many parents are not equipped for.
"We live in the age where sometimes due to the new media technology, roles are reversed and parents need to learn from their kids how to use many gadgets. It is the age where children are exposed to more than enough information that is good for their development, because the computer age of the Internet and mobile technology has also exposed the children now to a lot of information overload which is not totally good for them" he said,
Giving insights into what motivated the writing of the book, the author, Mrs. Tehingbola, said the main purpose was to equip parents with knowledge and skills for effective parenting under the current dispensation where children are exposed to global social trends.
The author, who is both a parent and teacher for about two decades, said one of the challenges of the 21st century is that parents have to know how to make their children tap and utilize their gifts for success in life. This, according to the author, is the problems that parents do not adequately address.
She said: "The problem in parenting the 21st century child is that most parents do not spend time to relate and interact with their children, and this has adverse effect on them and so we have problems in developing the potentials in them and making them achieve optimally.
"Parenting the 21st century child has to do with parents being available for their children, and relating with them intimately so that they could help them utilize their potentials and be a success in life. Why we have many vices involving children now in the society is because many parents now spend more time outside the home at the office looking for money, and lesser time with time with the children in the home.
Though I am not against parents working, but the trend is that even when we are at home, we don't give children the needed attention as we still engage our time with other things, rather creating time to relate with the children".
According to her, the 21st century child is highly sensitive, opposes rigid rules, has a lot of potential that needs to be discovered and developed, and very inquisitive, amongst others qualities.
She further said that some tips to successfully parenting the 21st century child includes being flexible, avoiding nagging and criticism of children, spending time with the children and emphasizing happiness above success.
National Mirror