With three days to Christmas and barely a week to usher in the New Year, 2024, parents have been advised to monitor their children to safeguard them from partaking in harmful vices including drug abuse, alcoholism, crime and sexual immorality.
A renowned PCEA cleric Reverend Godffrey Jomo challenged parents to ensure they are available for their children in order to guide them on ways to celebrate the festive season without endangering their lives.
“Be available, offer guidance on how to go about life. Be alert that at such a stage, young people are more prone to making very dangerous decisions which could have negative far-reaching effects,” Reverend Jomo told KNA in Nyeri yesterday.
He cautioned parents to among other measures discourage children from being part of groupings whose agenda is secretive, dissuade them from becoming partying ‘animals’, be keen on details on cousins outings and sleepovers and explain clearly consequences of engaging in social vices.
“This is no generation to use idioms,” the Cleric said and advised parents to punish where necessary as recommended in the Holy Bible’s book of Proverbs 22:15 : “Children naturally do careless, silly mistakes and a little spanking will teach them how to behave.”
The PCEA minister attributed the wayward behaviours among the youth to poor parenting and peer pressure noting that as the youth go through identity crisis, they need adequate parental guidance.
On peer pressure, the clergyman said, the youth adopt vices such as illicit sex, drug abuse, drunkenness, poor grooming, vulgarity, crime and poor eating habits as they pursue a sense of belongingness.
“Being a ‘softee or being cool’ is the in thing with teenagers as they crave to be famous among their friends,” stated Rev Jomo, who is also a trained counsellor and chaplain at Nairobi school.
He further cautioned parents against absconding their responsibility of raising up children as they pursue wealth stressing that parents should live with their children and not for their children.
“Some of us parents are absentee parents leading a prototype leasehold life than freehold; too much engrossed in amassing wealth which does not help us in old age. “Living with them means you have given them a platform or a head start to live on their own even after you are long gone.
On the contrary, living for them means after you are gone the family unit fizzles out very fast as the children cannot stand on their own,’’ he stressed.
Commenting on drug abuse, the clergy man revealed that victims suffer mood swings, withdrawal symptoms, lack of interest in many things, are untidy and their eyes are teary and reddish.
He pointed out that drug abusers also experience behavioral changes like dropping old friends for new ones, are easily irritable and aggressive, shy, avoid constant glare, are sometimes paranoid, suffer a never-ending running nose and find it hard to stay focused on a task.
Besides, Rev Jomo added, drug abusers operate on meager sums of money including coins, Sh50 and Sh100 notes as they live a day at a time and added when they lack money to buy drugs they steal or sell any item they lay their hands on to satisfy ‘the feel high need.’’
In addition most people in drugs bondage, Jomo added, have long small finger nails (meant to scoop the narcotics), strange marks on the body, a penchant for wearing long sleeves even during dry and hot weather and their eyes’ pupils are larger or smaller than usual.
“Besides, they have cold, sweaty palms, suffer mouth sores, frequent headaches nose bleedings, paranoia and either sleep too much or too little. “ Parents should also become concerned if they notice their child lose weight suddenly, is hyperactive and over imaginative,” he cautioned.
On how to handle a drug addicted youth, the cleric advised that parents and other caregivers should provide emotional and material support to them during their recovery process.
Saying that addiction is a mental disorder Jomo stressed that critical addicts should be referred to rehabilitation centres as they are staffed with professional therapists well aware of how to transform them.
“Be careful not to criticize or accuse them. Also desist from comparing them with their peers and siblings and instead show them love and affection,” the cleric advised as he called on parents to exercise patience during the recovery process.
By Kamiri Munyaka
