CHILDREN OF DESTINY

Exodus 2:1-2

Different researches on the effect upbringing has on the life of an individual have shown that poverty and family background have a major impact on the lives of individuals and that the social status of parents influence the way the children are raised.


In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell relates the story of a research carried out by a professor of psychology, Lewis Terman in 1921, on 250,000 children out of which he selected 1, 470 children who he considered to have the highest IQ levels. He spent decades observing them, and by the time they became adults, he gathered information on 730 of them.

He noticed that not all of the children fared well. The most significant outcome of his research was that all the kids who did well came from middle - income/rich families, and those who didn't fare well came from poor families. Therefore, he concluded that, it's the status of an individual's family, and not IQ levels, that made the greatest impact on the outcome of that individual.


Another researcher, Annette Lareau, an educational sociologist, focused on parenting in the USA. She believed that the temperaments of parents made the difference in their style of parenting. Together with her team, they studied families of different races and social status by participating in their everyday lives.

They noticed the difference between the way parents who belonged to the middle-income/rich class and the way parents from the low-income/poor class raised their children. The middle-income/rich parents raised their children to be bold, confident and to participate in extra-curricular activities in school.

The low-income/poor parents on the other hand did not do much to boost their children self-confidence. Their children invented games in the neighborhood. Their conclusion, therefore, was that it is class and not race that has a greater impact on the development and outcome of the life of a child.


In Nigeria, our concept of leadership which encourages the cliche that "children should be seen and not heard", has negatively affected the children and they are growing without self-esteem not the confidence to speak boldly. Also, the prevalent poverty is not helping matters.


The following tips will help:


SALVATION AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT - Children must, as a matter of urgency, be led to Christ, in order to get a healthy identity in God.

EDUCATION - Parents must make sacrifices to send their children to school. The church also must contribute.

COMMUNITY - We should be good mentors for children, expose them to the correct type of association, and give the less privileged the opportunity to develop in the right atmosphere...Pastor Sam Adeyemi