WOKE PARENTING OR NO PARENTING?

I think around last year, a woman on twitter shared a story about how her daughter; aged around 5-9 called her attention to the content being played by her hair stylist. The memory is a bit fuzzy but it's about how her daughter had come home and blatantly told her that she wanted to stop going to that particular hair stylist's place.

"Why?", she said she asked.

"She plays music videos on music channels, I told her to turn it off because it wasn't appropriate and she refused."

I believe the mother said her daughter stopped going there. I didn't know the little girl, nor her mother but I was so proud of them both; especially the daughter. It's one thing to try to implement good parenting, enforce parental control for television contents and teach a child about inappropriate content. It's another thing for that child, at that age to recognise them, not take advantage of the freedom of being away from home, politely tell  an adult about contents inappropriate for a child and when she saw that she wasn't communicating, blatantly refuse to keep going there.

For me, that's parenting. Grooming. Not just telling your child 'NO', but making them understand why you have to say 'NO'. So they fully know why you're keeping them away from it. So they know what to protect themselves from when they're away from you. 

On the completely opposite end of the spectrum, there's Darasimi on instagram; a 5 years old whose parents are apparently monetizing her always dancing sexually explicit and morally deficient Nigerian songs. Vulgar lyrics and dance steps a 5 years old baby should never be exposed to.

You see cuteness and 'sharpness',all I see is overexposure, piss poor parenting and cashing out on the exposure a child to vulgarity. When will this society draw a line between woke and blatant parental failure?

The day she sang "shoko lo dun toyi" in one of her dance videos, I almost lost it. No, the responsibly is not on the artiste for singing those songs. Parental guidance isn't there for design. It is not a joke. The content is simply not meant for a child. She's not the audience it was designed for and that's absolutely okay! It is the responsibility of her parents to shield her from it. And about them 'nurturing' her dance talent? There are a million and one other ways to nurture a talent while letting kids remain kids and shielding them from things they have no business associating with. 

It's not by posting IG videos of them making faces while singing "mo ti fa gbana, mo ti shayo" with smoking gestures. It is horrific but I guess 400k followers matter more than anything in the world. 

When Cardi B was shown in a  video sending her child out of the room while playing her song  'WAP', twitter fingers came for her about the content of her music and how she was a hypocrite for not exposing her child to it knowing how sexually explicit it sounded. She replied by saying people should just be better parents and shield their children from contents that are clearly not appropriate for their ages.

'I will not take responsibility for the failure of parents to censor what you expose your kids to'. I think that's what she said in a video she made addressing the situation.

And she's absolutely right.

A DJ playing 'Soapy' at a children's party is sick in the head. The only people who are sicker are parents present at said parties watching their children dance to it. A child dancing to sexually explicit songs with heavy sexual connotations on social media and you see adults glamourising the madness with comments about the child's sharpness. You cannot even dare comment about the malady without silly adults either saying you're sexualising the child, or blatantly calling you a paedophile. Things they wouldn't ever allow their own kids to do. Or maybe would sha.

All of us as a society will bear the brunt and effect of woke parenting. Let's continue to defend the indefensible, justify the unjustifiable and normalise madness. The results will manifest. You will see how your years of outstanding parenting can be undone by your child simply getting mixed up with a poorly trained child. Remember peer pressure? Yes, it's a thing. And it  can make or mar. Repair or ruin. We'll see.

Parents are failing tremendously. Overpampering has replaced parenting. Parents are hiding under the umbrella of wokeness and looking the other way. Bad songs, bad movies, easy access to 18+ content, unguarded use of the Internet and absent parents. Look at what you're raising. Are you proud of yourself? What do you see your child manifesting in 5, 10, 15 years to come?

Yes we can all only try. But will you honestly, from the bottom of your heart be able to say "At least I tried. I gave it my all" irrespective of what happens later? Will your child be used as a point of reference for the result of outstanding parenting or be used as a cautionary tale for other children around on how they should never turn out? Either outcome is on you. 

Spank, threaten, punish, advise, guide and talk to them when needed; all you need to do it strike a balance. Again, all your years of upright parenting can be undone by the wrong child, wrong movie, wrong music or wrong website-so it's important to be careful of what we as a society defend, justify and normalise. 

Responsible parenting will never go out of style.