Father’s Day: Experts advocate domestication of the Boy-Child

Experts have challenged parents to domesticate the boy-child to become a responsible father in future and reduce the moral decadence in the society.

The Executive Director of a Non Governmental Organization, A Mother’s Love Initiative, AMLi, Mrs Hanatu Enwemadu, threw the challenge at an event in Ikeja organised by the NGO to commemorate this year’s Father’s Day.

Father’s Day is an annual international observance honouring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in the society.

Enwemadu, who noted that the Nigerian society focused more on the girl-child, thereby neglecting the boy-child, stated such that act contributed largely to the increase in social vices in the country.

She urged Nigerians to train both genders equally to change the narrative as no gender is better than the other.

“The boy-child has been neglected, parents need to step up their game. I encourage parents to please create time for our children, raise the boy-child the same way you are raising the girl because our children are the future,” Enwemadu appealed.

Speaking in the same vein, a veteran actor, Mr. Nobert Young, tasked parents to prepare the boy-child early in life for the fatherly role and advised women against prioritizing having a male child in marriage and shun all cultural values associated with that.

“Let the boy-child do chores, he shouldn’t be left to play football all the time, though I am not against football, let the boy-child grow up thinking about the house, cook, wash clothes, wash plates, let them learn the economics and management of the home, that’s what I meant by domesticating the boy-child,” he said

Highlighting the dangers inherent in the hurried child syndrome to include unbalanced emotional intelligence and mental health challenges, an Educationist, Mr Adesina Okunnusi, advised parents to allow children to grow through developmental stages to ensure their emotional stability in future.

The highpoint of the event themed “Keeping relationship”, was the presentation of gifts and awards to exceptional boys who partook in an essay competition organised by AMLi to mark the International Day of the Boy Child in both Tertiary and Secondary school levels.

First place winners in both categories got laptops, while second and third runners up went home with Tablet phones and Android phones.