The Power of Parenting

The moment a seed is planted in the womb of a mother, the growth and development process starts and the future of that child will weigh heavily on the actions, values, beliefs, and attitudes of the vessel bearing the seed.

While the role of the father is very critical, the role of the mother and the hope to inspire future parents to make the best of a very critical period in the lives of prospective seeds, are the main reasons to write this article.

Marian was the secretary for one of the first company I worked with after graduating from college and she was very high on confidence, competence, and commitment to her job. During the third year of her employment with the company she became pregnant with her first child, and all of a sudden her attitude changed to reflect a side of her that we had not seen before.

She began to read more profusely, have more discussions with the scientific and technical persons from the various divisions, and being calm and nice to everybody. Many times I would look at her and smile because of the sudden change that was taking place in her department. I believe the attrition rate and the morale of the workforce were positively affected during the months she was pregnant.

As a young man fresh into the working world, I did not understand what was happening but several years later I can say I have grasped the whole thing.

During this time the country was facing serious upheavals especially in the political, economic, and social arenas. The major political parties were fighting to control the country and many Jamaicans were suffering in all areas especially with the high death rate, devaluations of the dollar, high cost of living, scarcity of basic necessity, and tensions between politically aligned communities.

One of the two most important hospitals in the country was located in the heart of the political activities, and as a result pregnant mothers had to brave the tensions in the early mornings to get their prenatal and postnatal treatments. The tense atmosphere which include gun fighting, demonstrations, and an over crowded hospital was not ideal for these prospective mothers to come into.

Unlike Marian, these ladies feared for their lives and transmit these fears to the unborn child. These fears were to change to change the nation for the worse for years to come. Here were children facing different scenarios within the same country due to disparity in income levels. These children had no control over their environment and had to depend on their parents, especially their mothers to negotiate for them.

This brings into focus how critical it is for the mothers to ensure the right kinds of thought are entertained while the children are being developed. Fathers does not know all the mothers are going through and can only rely on what they see or hear through the process of interactions.

Marian had a son who I discovered fifteen years later was in high school and doing extremely. This most likely was due to the effort of his mother at the time when she sowed good seeds like reading, a good attitude, good nutrition and commitment to her job.

The sons of many of these mothers in that violent prone area are mostly dead or in prisons, with very few achieving any significant milestone in their lives. Unfortunately the Hospital and the funeral homes are the institutions that have some of the most business transactions in that area.

Many of the older men in that area make it their duty to recruit these young men and women at an early age into gang warfare and other criminal activities. This will always generate a consistent flow of evil activities from that area and only those who move from the area have a good change of breaking the cycle.

The fear that had been inculcated into the minds of the mothers, and by extension into the children growing in their wombs at the time, plays out when these children are confronted regarding joining these gangs. Most of them will join because they fear for their lives.

Mothers should be celebrated when they take time to build the right temperament for their child to grow in while those who are practicing activities that are defeating the purpose of quality of life sustenance should change their approach for the sake of the innocent, defenseless child growing inside.

Many brilliant children we see today are the product of there application, and commitment and the quality inputs of their parents especially the mothers in the early years,

The process should be easier now compare to the past when there were little or no use of birth control and it was the norm to have from six to even twelve children in one family.

More resources are now available to invest in the families of two’s or even three’s that are now normal for the present day family structures.

Men and women today are beneficiary of good motherly investment should constantly celebrate their mothers for the good job and continue the tradition so that their children can repay the complement in the future.

If only we could get this right, then the impact in the prisons and the schools would be tremendous as the years unfold. Thanks mother, thanks father for a job well done.