Jessica Onyegbula
Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, has called on parents to pay more attention to their children and instill moral values in them.
“Parents should pay more attention to the moral values of their children. They should pay attention to that, instead of chasing money,” Okoh said on Saturday in Abuja, at the 13th graduation and award ceremony of the Anglican Girls Grammar School.
He said that parents had a lot of job and role to play in the lives of their children, and cautioned against neglecting that divine role.
The primate, who was represented by Herbert Dike, Chairman, Diocese of Abuja Education Board, regretted that parents were abandoning their parental roles for teachers and peer groups.
“We must go back to the days when all that mattered was the proper upbringing of the children, because what we have today are parents who do not have time or pay attention to their children.
“Today’s parents just want to send their children to school and face their businesses; they don’t even want holiday to come.
“When children go home for break, parents keep asking them when school will resume so that the children can go back to school and let them (parents), have time.
“Parents do not spend quality time with their children anymore. As a parent, you are the first teacher of your child; what you give or do not give will surface in future.
“Parents must pay adequate attention to their children. You must, as a parent, do the right thing for your child to follow,’’ he said.
Venerable Syrenius Okoriko, Education Secretary, Anglican Diocese of Abuja, in a remark, said that parents of today “just push the children to school and go about their businesses”.
Okoriko added that parents see the children coming home for holidays as a burden, which is not good enough.
He stressed that parents must sit up and own the treasure God has given to them by caring, teaching and supporting the children in all areas of life.(NAN)