I’m of the opinion that the reason parents work so hard to give their kids the best education that they can afford, and they also allow them to make mistakes so that they can learn from it is to prepare them for life and its myriad of challenges. Life is hard, and the only way to tackle it successfully is to be ready for whatever eventuality may occur. However, these are not traits that we just pick up randomly. They have to be instilled in us.
As long as you’re a living and breathing person, things will not always go your way. You have to be ready for that. Dangote is the richest man in Africa, yet the government is still managing to frustrate him and his business. The Nigerian government, with all their power, would like us to keep quiet while they keep making us suffer unnecessarily, but no one is quiet. We’re letting them know that we see what they’re doing and we’re keeping score.
There is nowhere in the world where you’ll do something and people will like you. Your power can never be so absolute that you won’t find any opposition. Not even if you’re the best leader. Not then to talk of if you have leaders who don’t care about you, like in our case. So, how does all this tie into the topic of the day? Well, as I said, as long as you’re a living breathing human interacting with other living breathing creatures and you all have your own minds and can make your own decisions, then there will always be challenges.
And for this, I’ll have to prepare my kids. Life in itself isn’t hard, people just make it so. So, if I can prepare my kids to be able to deal with the disappointment that comes with life, they’ll find it easy to navigate through anything.
Personally, I don’t subscribe to the fact that one has to suffer to be able to appreciate success. I’ve suffered enough for myself, my kids, and my grandkids as well. If I have the opportunity to make life easy for them and eliminate all their challenges, I will very much do so. These days, we’ve arrived at the painful reality that as long as you have money, you can get away with just about anything. Many times, you don’t even have to pay for it, just the reputation of being rich is enough to open up doors for you that would have otherwise been closed.
I’ll try my best to make life as easy for them as possible. If I can afford it, I’ll send them to the most expensive schools. Schools where senators, ministers, and Governors send their kids. I’ll enroll them in clubs and make sure that their friends with the children of other people who matter. This is because bonds and networks built from childhood is always hard to break, especially within the elite circle. They keep the circle small and tight but they always keep helping each other up.
That is what is important in my opinion. I’ll teach them how to relate with people, how to be friendly but never allow themselves to be taken advantage of. I’ll also prepare them for the eventuality of disappointment. It’s inevitable. Everyone will definitely get that breakfast, however, how we deal with it is what separates the lions from the sheep.
I know that life will come with challenges, it’s inevitable. No matter how rich or poor you are, you’ll have your own share of premium shege. It’s my job to prepare my kids for all this and make sure that they don’t get overwhelmed when life starts giving them lemons because not everyone will have the state of mind to make lemonade. That skill doesn’t come naturally. It’s taught. And that’s what I’ll do.
