Ruyi's World of Books and Stories.: SHORT STORY: Before it is Too Late by Omoruyi Uwuigiaren

It is expensive to raise good children.

But the price of living with bad children is eternal.

It is expensive to raise good children. But the price of living with bad children is eternal. Many parents, especially in Nigeria focus attention on their children’s grades and extracurricular activities, such as by making sure kids study, do their homework, and if things are not going as planned, they will likely tip or bribe. The essence of this is to get good grades and certificate. While this move can easily secure the future, the price of not touching every aspect of the child’s life can come back to haunt the family.

When a family is in pain, the society bears the brunt. It’s a vicious circle. It bites deep and robs many of happiness. The pain never ends and will only rest when the victim walk into silence. Everyone is served the poisoned chalice and the bread of sorrow goes round. Sometimes it comes like a truckload. The weight of which could sink a ship.

While the parents appear to be more concerned about the grades, in most situations, have sleepless nights over the child’s inability to have good grades, all too often, they forget to put time and effort into nurturing another component of child success and development—one that is just as important, and perhaps even more essential, which is being a good person. So the child goes through school not even knowing there is need to be decent, selfless and kind to others. He leaves school only to be brutally cold and receptive to good habits. This opens the flood gate of transgression at all levels of the child’s life.

If we want to raise children who are genuinely nice people, we can help guide them toward habits and behaviors that promote positive character traits like kindness, generosity and love. Without offering the same energy that we put into how much grades the kids have at school, we have only succeeded in destroying the child. Grades and certificates can be of immense value when there is character to sustain the person. We can’t neglect the core values of life and expect life to be fair to us. We cannot pretend to be good and not find ourselves chasing shadows. Life is good when we are able to bend any circumstance to our favor.

No soul can have a decent future on the corridors of evil. Failure to raise good children will only dent the future. Sadly, the future is now. There must be deliberate attempt to introduce children to good habits. While there are no guaranteed formulas that can build good character and help any child grow into a good person, the parent can start by living an exemplary life. Let your children see the light in you. It is enough if they can see how loving and caring you are.

Nurture empathy in your child. Show them the path. Be the future that you want them to be. Dictate the lessons. Create a vivid picture of what you want your children to become. If they can imagine it, they can achieve it. If your children are not responsive, then you are not doing enough. Your message is not clear. You are missing something. Fix your own shortcoming. You cannot give what you do not have. Be the pacesetter.

Don’t assume that your child knows how to be kind to people. Teach him or her how to reach out and lift up people. Once your child sees the humanity in you, they will surely figure it out on their own. As you encourage positive behaviors, you are liberating your child from future of horror and nightmare.

Today, raising children have almost become difficult because most parents either leave the responsibility to strangers like the class teacher at school or they are too busy and don’t want to get involved. Children who are not properly guided will eat junks.

Junks will leave any child malnourished. With peer pressure, come the dangers of getting destroyed altogether.

As children grow into adults, kids who have not tasted proper training also develop swiftly too. They find safe haven and mingle with their kind. What you get is a mishap. People will drown at the feet of the bad people. Tormentors will rage at the doors of helpless victims. At this point, we are left to grovel at the feet of the monster that we have created.

We have created monsters out of our children. Alas! They are upon us for destruction! The milk can no longer flow. It has gone sour from the fountain. They crush anything in sight and feed it to their dogs. On their bare chest is death. The valley is flooded with blood of their brothers, sisters, friends and neighbors. The thorns are stronger than the weaver’s beak. Hell is on top of the mountain with hammer in her hand to crush the living. If men had seen the future, they would have tamed the boisterous wind.

We are slowly reaching the point where there will be a “Yahoo Boy” on every street. And every home will boast of her black sheep. A four fisted wrecking bull that can bring down a nation. They are cruel monsters walking about seeking whom to devour. Enough of the madness, for the consequence is grave. They leave a trail of waste. There is emptiness in what they share. They gloat, they howl and they destroy. The enemy from within is hard to kill. It’s in your blood. It is part of you. Sticks and stones can break the bone. A bad child will cause shame and rain curse on his father. Nothing breaks a family like wayward children.

Don’t sleep while they are awake. Once they organize into a mafia, we are finished. It is easy to see that the boys are so rich. Money knows no filth. It’s loyal to the owner. When money is in the hands of wrong people, misfortune will walk the street on bare chest. It will kill and destroy.

Most “Yahoo Boys” are now breadwinners. They pay the bills and do the things that their parents ought to have done. In the animal kingdom, the predators determine so much. They determine when others feed or go to the river because it is disaster for the prey to be by the river when the predator is around. There are always consequences for sharing the poor will the monster. The easy target will be brought to their knees and die. The deer cannot be in the same corner with the lion. No matter how thirsty the deer is, the poor animal must find its meal or water elsewhere. Feeding from the proceeds of fraud is evil enough. There are hardly free meals anywhere. Robbing anyone of his or her hard earned money is not a good way to build your own future. It is not a clear path to greatness. Saying this is cruel, is an understatement. It takes only a cold hearted killer to be completely at peace after hurting people.

Everyone is at the mercy of the bad guy. Any poor animal that strays into their den of the predator is devoured. We have reached that point. The power play and the speed at which the prey is corner can only be decisive. No matter how close you are to the prey, you dare not question the predator.

Many parents have lost the right to question their children on how they make money. No one questions the predators in the jungle. Some parents have been pushed to the wall. They know it is the monster they created that is coming back to haunt them. They know the boy is a product of their wrong decisions. They know he was their failure. They failed to put him through. They failed to make the corrections when they had the chance to done so. They thought the good grades and certificates were enough to mould the son into a fine man. No! It is never enough.

Raising children is complex. Just as talent is never enough in the race of life so is good grades are never enough. You can buy good grades for your son, but you can never buy him good behavior.

The Yahoo Boys are just one click away from being organized. Once they reach this level, it will be hard to break them down or knock them back to reality. There is no future in being cruel to your fellow human. Most parents have lost the power to control their wards. Now, they expect providence to fix the adult they should have whipped into shape when he was a child. God will sort it out. For some, providence is the government. Sitting on the mountain of omnipotence, like they are on top of the world, government must act fast. The moment the bell rings, there will be no friends. The roof will be off. Every time someone gets into trouble, the influence of the monster grows. To them, it is good to be the bad guy. Being the bad guy comes with benefits. Bad things don’t last, bad guys do. Such mentality should not be allowed to hold.

Hard work pays off. Dreams come true. Being a fraudster is not a chance to taste greatness. It doesn’t offer a good life. It only endangers those who dwell in it.

Government must save the future of Nigeria. Now is the time to rehabilitate or move these boys off the street. Government must create jobs and keep them busy. Failure to act now, will spell doom. I am already scared of walking alone on the street of Lagos. Every corner you turn is 10-15 boys drinking, smoking or chatting.

We pretend as if we don't see these things. Every time we fail to raise a boy, we destroy a Nation.

I have always maintained that one bad cop is worse than an entire criminal outfit. If the average policeman knows that he has a son, brother or relative who is a “Yahoo Boy”, what moral justification does he have to fight another? We are sitting on a keg of gun powder. There is no pleasure in suffering. There is no hope in being fraudulent. When we talk about future prospect, being a fraudster can never be one of them. Making it look like a means to an end is disastrous.

It is hard to say whether things will get better in the future. The systematic failure in Nigeria is evil enough and it is not helping anyone. This circle never ends. It rains for eternity. As the wandering cloud gathers at her feet, the door is slammed shut and evil breaks forth.

Organized mafia buys weapons. Not only to protect themselves, have they bought weapons. They have them to retaliate or fight perceived years of injustice done to them or their loved ones. It is insanity to belong to this world. We must act now and be free. May we not pay dearly for raising poor children.

Omoruyi Uwuigiaren is a former cartoonist turned writer. When he was a kid, he loved music and composed songs for his high school band. After school, he wanted to pursue a career in music. Instead he embraced writing and studied Mass Communications. His literary works and books have appeared in Moronic Ox Literary and Cultural Journal, Open Books, Urban Express Live, Qwenu, Academy of the Heart and Mind and many more. He’s the owner of Ruyi’s World of Books and Stories.