This episode of ‘Blackie, yam-leg and lefty’ shares stories of the impact of family on a teenager’s well-being. It explores the stories of young adults and teenagers narrating the impact of parenting, parental neglect, dysfunctional family and words on the self-esteem and self-worth of teenagers.
Self-esteem cannot be given by anybody. It has to come from within and accepting who and what you are.
A teenager shares his experiences of how his association with good friends helped him managed suicidal thoughts and keep him inspired. One of the ways he personally manage these thoughts of suicide and depression was to shout out to release the depression. He narrated sharing ideas with friends and learning online courses. He is quite positive about having the tools needed to execute the knowledge acquired from the courses.
Another young man narrated the dangers of giving birth to children without taking responsibility for them. Having experienced parental neglect from his father during his teenage years, he explicitly narrated the responsibilities of parents to their children and how a neglect of these responsibilities could affect a child’s well-being. He narrated the impact of parental neglect on their children which include taking drugs, keeping bad company and the likes. Most times, these vices are evident in children who don’t further their education after their completion of secondary school education.
Parenting is a huge responsibility and parents need to realize the power that they wield over their child or children. Parents need to understand the nature and uniqueness of their children in order to avoid comparing them with other children. It is important for parents to understand that they are just a custodian of their child and at some point in life, the child will no longer stay with them. Words of mouth are powerful; hence, parents should avoid the use of abusive words when correcting their children. The negative words said to child can define that child throughout his/her life.
In the course of training children, parents should correct them in love when they err instead of creating fear by constant shouting or beating. Ironically, parents who tend to correct their children over a mistake made, do not live by the standard they set for these children. This dysfunctional parenting could create a bipolar attitude in the child that could have a long time effect.
Irrespective of the baggage of child abuse parents have gone through as children, it is necessary to perform parental responsibilities diligently. Basically, everyone in the society has a responsibility to the next generation.
A young woman narrated her experience with having to fight and internalize a lot of battle within because she was not outspoken. She explained her likeness and appreciation for candid discussions when interacting with her peers and other people. Some of the candid conversations she enjoyed were with her father who speaks from a depth and wealth of experience.
Sometimes, the help and support we need do not come from family members. It is usually from someone outside, who is objective. One way to conquer challenges is through working on our belief system by reading biographies of people ahead of us.
A woman highlights the challenging story of Tyler Perry who did stage play for seven years but had nobody to watch it. She emphasized the importance of reading biographies of successful people whose stories could positively influence and encourage us. One of the issues affecting young people today is not asking questions. Some of the ways to withstand the challenges we encounter in life include reading biographies, reach out to people and work on our beliefs.
One of the virtues that is gradually eroding among young people, today is patience. Many young people are quite hasty in achieving life’s goal without applying the principles towards achieving them. However, the principles of life will not change irrespective of the advancement in technology. The process of achieving one’s goals might be faster due to technological advancement but the principles to achieve these goals will not change. We still need to do a personal journey of patience and self-discovery.
Every individual has a responsibility to improve his/her self-esteem.
