The relationship between many young people and their parents is slowly turning sour. Some young people openly and publicly show disdain for their parents.
Parents are the biggest blessings a person can have. If you are blessed to have both parents or even one alive, be thankful and treat them right. It is annoying that most of us take this blessing for granted due to ignorance, arrogance and foolishness.
It pains me to see a young man publicly call his mother a witch, saying he wants nothing to do with her. Just how does the only human who endured the pain of carrying you for nine months, gave birth to you and took care of you, become a witch?
Where is the respect even if there is no love left? There can only be one biological mother and father and no one can take their place. The least we can do is to honour and respect them, even when we do not agree with some of their decisions and choices.
A young man publicly criticised his mother and called her toxic. My problem is not how terrible the relationship is but the decision to dishonour the parent in the media. I get it that there is a lot that goes on in families but why choose to go public and disrespect your parent in public when you could have done so in private?
Speaking up or opening up is always best done in private, especially when it is a family matter. The biggest problem for young people is that we do not have friends within our family circle; somebody we can comfortably share our concerns and troubles with.
Most of us have replaced our biological family with social media ‘family’ who we feel deserve to know everything about us. That is why it is very easy for young people today to insult their parents and still feel justified based on the ‘love’ they receive from their social media 'family'.
The two young men got a lot of support from their online 'family'. But from the cases, it was also clear that a lot of people are hurting but are at least wise not to degrade their parents and subject them to unnecessary hatred from the social media community.
Unfortunately, today’s generation is not strong enough to take parental advice, criticism and differences positively anymore. Most of us will rush to share our frustrations and solvable problems with parents on social media platforms expecting to get real love and support there.
This just shows how foolish and egocentric we are with little or no reasoning at all. If you feel offended by your mother or father and do not even bother to find out why that is the case and how best to resolve the issue without involving a third party, then you are the problem.
Parents are not always right but based on their experience, knowledge and wisdom they are rarely wrong either. In addition, we are Africans so don’t expect your father or mother to come apologising anytime you quarrel. You are the one to approach them and initiate the conversation and perhaps they might apologise and if they do, then count yourself lucky.
Lastly, family relationships are not like other relationships. They require more energy and sacrifice to maintain and one has to be humble and at times even accept the blame when not at fault. This is especially so if it is in the case of a parent and their child.
Let us therefore make every effort to be on good terms with our immediate family members, with parents being our priority. Forgive one another where necessary. There is no need to make peace with strangers if you cannot do the same with your family.
Blood is always thicker than water no matter what we might have been conditioned to think nowadays. Remember this: “You can choose your friends but you cannot choose your family.”
Communication and public relations practitioner