Mum4real Talk Show – Introduction

Related Articles

April 30, 2020

Week 1

Good day listeners/viewers, I am Oluwaseyi  Fadairo  the creative director for mum4real. On this talk show, our aim is to discuss the challenges we face as parents and how we can overcome these challenges.

Today, I will introduce the topic and subsequently, we will be dealing with the challenges one by one. Thank you for joining us.

There is a story of a man that found himself in a river full of crocodiles just because he wanted to marry the king’s daughter. He didn’t dive into the river because he was in love but because of the challenges – the crocodile. As soon as he finished the contest in which he was the only contestant, he panted and asked, ‘Who pushed me?’ Sometimes, as parents, we ask the same question but in different way. Ours may sound like – “who sent me?”

Parenting is one of the roles we find ourselves in without adequate preparation, or let me say that it is one role in which we learn on the job. After the wedding ceremony, the next “project” we expect from the couple is child bearing by default. You will even hear the Pastor or Imam, parents, family members, friends praying for the new wedded. The prayer is usually ‘9-months from now, we are coming to eat rice again’. As soon as we see new bride taking permission from the office or falling ill or spitting here and there, we assume or conclude that the baby is on the way.

Now fast forward to the 9th month…the baby is here. Sometimes, you will find out that the only preparation so far is the baby nursery/room which comprises of the cot, the nursing kits, diaper, feeding bottle, grooming kits/bathing items, baby clothes and so on. Some of us don’t even know anything about the immunisation plan, all we say is, ‘as soon as we get to the bridge, we will cross it’. This saying can be dangerous when it comes to parenting because if we wait to be told or to discover every reality without adequate preparation, we may blame ourselves in the nearest future. The irony about this is that, we find ourselves making the same mistakes we accused our parents of making, or our children become ‘guinea pigs’ – especially the first, and then we experiment different theorems on them.

Parenting is not a sudden experience. I say so because it takes 9 months (which is equivalent to 40 weeks, 280 days, 6,720 hours) before the birth of a child either planned or unplanned. Therefore, as parents or parents-to-be, we have to be intentional about preparing ourselves for the parenting assignment. I know that there is no “one-style-fits-all” technique when it comes to parenting however, there is this one I have discovered and I will love to recommend, and it is to be INTENTIONAL ABOUT PREPARATION. How we deal with babies is different from how we deal with a toddlers,7-year-olds, teenagers or young adults. Nevertheless, if we are fully prepared by equipping ourselves we will scale through every stage victoriously.

I will like to share 5 ways we can prepare ourselves.

1.       Read: Take advantage of online and offline resources. Dedicate at least 30 minutes a week to read about parenting/nurturing a child, you will be amazed at the results you get.

2.       Attend seminars, listen to talk show, watch podcasts – especially free programmes. Weekends are not only for “owambe” but also for opportunities to invest into our future.

3.       Learn from experience –They say experience is a teacher but it is better if it is not yours. Be observant and sieve the right ones from the wrong.

4.       For the singles and to-be parents, offer help to nursing mothers especially during weekends. If you do, they will be grateful for the assistance at the same time, you would have added at least a point to your parenting skills.

5.        Pray for the unborn/born baby. Sow a daily seed of prayer into your future by praying for your lineage / future generations.

Thank you for joining us today, I hope today’s introduction has enlightened us in a valuable way. We hope to hear from you. Kindly like our page on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and twitter, read articles on our blog on www.mum4real.com for more insights on Parenting.