Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Are You Zero Grazing Your Children?

Sometimes when I look at some disinfectant TVC I get so angry. What do you mean there are germs everywhere? I am not saying there are no germs, but they are not everywhere. Unfortunately we have been brain washed to the benefit of these products.

I think some of our children are reared like the broiler chicken. Indoors, lots of junk food, limited space to walk, artificial lighting and modern gadgets. Those too are experiences, but we are all sure what the products are.

I am happy I was born in my generation where I was allowed to graze freely. The things we did can kill the today’s zero grazed child. We ate some gum from a tree I have no idea what is the English name. And it was such a delicacy. We dug beetles from cow dung by urinating in their holes to force them out. We fished tadpoles thinking they were fish. We made mud slides during the rainy seasons. We ate the roadside stones when it rained just because they smelt aromatic. Oh, and we didn’t die.

I know things have changed. We don’t have forests or rivers or even space to let our children, we cannot trust them to roam around and we are too busy. When was the last time you played with your children? Outdoor?

We are limited I know, but I still believe it is a parents responsibility to create moments and experiences for their children. It is so unfortunate that most of our children have never seen a cow giving birth, or even a cow being milked. They can neither make fire nor make tea. They have never seen a tadpole leave alone a frog. It is a sad thing.

With all our excuses, we are lucky as a country that we can give such experiences to our children if we made deliberate efforts. A friend of mine Emanzo is doing such a great work with his Bush Culture Programs. And I agree with his concept. That unless we do something and create some of  these experiences for our children, they will never understand why environment is such an important things and they may never ever understand life as they ought to.
So this coming holiday, do something with your children. And if you need help, you can always contact me to help you create experiences for you children, experiences that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

10 comments:

  1. You actually left an important part - Just the same way we invest in broiler chicken (broiler mash, hormone injections, timeline for growth), with clear expectation that its gonna be fat and ready to be sold at Kenchick - that is just the same stuff we input into the kids and expect an equivalent output.

    If they dont pass exams - they are not ready for Kenchick, so they kill themselves.... they constantly have to have homework, and attend tuition on holidays = a higher dose of hormonal injection everyday. If they finish the teachers homework, we add on them some more.

    Its not funny that some mothers walk around carrying homework for their kids in their handbags, so that as they gossip about nails and hair at the Chama - the kid is doing homework to keep them busy.

    I am strongly believing that we are getting kids because of "Whats in It for us" and not "What's in it for them to be kids". They are a trophy to be shown around and massage our ego - the beauty, the prowess, the achievement. Its become more of a public affair that a personal drive to the betterment of the good that is in the kids.

    Some kids will actually inherit half of their life's Time Line (as loaded on facebook) from their parents. Forget the traditional picture album which was only private to selected visitors at home, their life will be out there - and they have no choice to it....

    Concerns me, GTendwa

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    1. I agree with you a hundred percent. Kids have become the parent project and no wonder many are forced onto things not considering what indeed is good for the child from their own perspective esp when they are chosing careers after fourth form. A sad scenario

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  2. I do agree you remind me cruising on a plastic container in a very steep hill bulging into a river and my cousin there to pull me out. i can still hear the ecstatic laughter and the great joy i experienced that the younger generation may never experience.

    flair lady.

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    1. We had such a game too and it was so exhilirating :-) It beats the water slide. We must recreate such moments for our children.

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  3. Nice piece dear,today children and I pray not ours are really missing on life. Those days are actually irreplaceable, praticularly i remember us bathing in Muddy water "duff mpararo" i mean creating an imaginary swimming pool, where would dettol and safeguard really place us?

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    1. Thanks. Dettol would categories you as germs and not kids with germs. We must be deliberate on how we engage with our children

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  4. Great blog post Yusuf. You are very correct in all that you say.

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  5. I remember to those days we would go skidding (nyororoka) when it rained both using our feet and our knees, We would do swimming after creating after blocking masses of water down the river bed using stones and banana skins and we would play banno whole day. wa wa those were the days...Nowadays kids are just overloaded with books even on holidays when they are supposed to rest (why then do we have breaks during end terms? it doesn't make sense). We have a curriculum that overemphasizes books more than talents n gifts development (the two should be balanced). Did you know Alicia Keys was forced by the dad to learn to play piano, nowadays it is her great compliment when she sings. Did you William trained his daughters Venus and Serena and that is their great strength nowadays and it has made them stand before kings? The same case is applicable to Tiger woods.
    I mean parents will determine how far the kids will go by proper gift/talents training and also character training from an early age.
    I agree with u bro wrong zero grazing will produce wrong stock

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    1. Thanks bro. I am alway amazed by the parents who see a gift in their children and do everything they can do make it something the children can make a living in. Here in Kenya we most often think that only books can redeem. We must look at our children wholesomely.

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