WRITTEN BY EMEKA ARINZE
Our children are being recognized, honoured and celebrated today around the world. Children’s Day was first proclaimed by the World Conference for the Well-being of Children in 1925.

It was established to encourage all countries to institute a day, firstly to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children and secondly to initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of children. The day is annually observed in Nigeria on May 27.
The observance is aimed to raise public awareness of problems that children face. About 42% of the Nigerian population is children and one third of children aged from 6 to 14 do not go to school. Many children leave schools for different purposes and children’s rights are often violated. Furthermore, information from UNICEF states that about six point five million childbirths occur in Nigeria annually. This shows how important children are.
One would wonder then if parents should not strive to ensure good parenting. When parents are seriously busy, children can often spend more time with unpredictable maids, unrated media content and their peers than with their parents. This often instills bad influences into their lives and is the cause of misconduct. No wonder why cultism, drug abuse, disrespect, rape, robbery, child pregnancy, kidnapping, exam malpractice, indecent dressing, lesbianism and homosexuality are rife among our young ones of nowadays.
As we celebrate another children’s day today therefore, parents, teachers, guardians and even neighbours should sincerely evaluate their relationships with the children and wards under their care. They must not over pamper or spare the rod and spoil the child. They should train up the child in the way he should go so that when he is old, he will not depart from it. They should do these, knowing that vagabonds do not grow from the soil; neither do terrorists fall from the sky.
It is unfortunate that, today, Children are used as labourers in some places, immersed in armed conflict, living on the streets, suffering by differences, be it religion, minority issues, or disabilities. Thousands of children still hawk wares on the streets during school hours. Many of them are subjected to torture and other dehumanizing treatment by their masters; at times, many are maimed, killed or given permanent wounds, while others experience incest.
These are abomination before God and man. Some of them are either trafficked or forced to be sex slaves. Our children are also involved in armed conflicts and recruited as child soldiers and even suicide bombers, while, abduction of children, attacks on schools and not allowing humanitarian access to children are on the increase in parts of the country. There are also the worst forms of Child Labour, including slavery, child prostitution and child pornography.
Above all, the kind of followers our religious leaders are raising today calls for serious concern. The sermons these days are gospel of convenience, liberality and materialism. Most gospels oozing out of the pulpit nowadays are no longer tilting towards holiness and salvation. Crowd determines what some people preach these days because they want to raise large followership. Children are no longer told that hard work, diligence and honesty pay. They are no longer shown the way to the Kingdom; the way of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Today, we preach the gospel of mammon. We no longer preach the gospel that challenges the immoral, corrupt and insincere life of children. The god of mammon and materialism is taking over the church today. People are interested in miracles and wealth without desiring to know who the giver of life is and how to live in holiness. Children are told how to be comfortable here on earth, without telling them that we are strangers and sojourners on transit.
They are told how to be millionaires and drive the best cars in the world. Preachers, these days, tell our children how to make money by all means. Children are told sweet stories they want to hear. Message of salvation is rarely preached to them. Rather, fund raising, sowing seed and materialism are the order of the day in most religious grounds these days. This is what a prelate calls dangerous gospel and it has negatively affected the psyche of our children. That is why the more churches are springing up in our society, the more decayed the society is becoming. Our children must be told that someone can be a millionaire; but it must come with God’s principles. Our children should be told that the way they are living that contradicts the word of God will lead them to the judgment of God. We must teach them the reality of hell fire. Our teachings should make children weep over their sins and convince them of the glories of the kingdom of God.
Governments must equally try to solve the problems connected with children’s right violation and imperfect system of education, while parents, teachers and guardians should sit up to their responsibilities. Children, on the other hand, should heed the instruction in Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 16, which says, “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you…”

No related posts.