Men should teach and lead their families
For Botswana to rise and shine this year, every one of us must play their role faithfully, confidently and competently in their specific areas of focus. We should not keep repeating mistakes and excuses that promote stagnation in different spheres of our lives.
Every Motswana should seek to impress others with their diligent performance. We should rid our nation of the pervasive spirit of irresponsibility and underachievement. To especially all men in our nation, God wants you to perform as real fathers in their families and communities.
The word ‘father’ means men should take care of children, women, and unfortunate people who are vulnerable to the storms of life. The family is a foundation of society, and it is supposed to be guided by sound male leadership, and not left to struggling women to raise children singlehandedly.
Significantly, God wants men to rise to the occasion by actively assuming the crucial role of teacher-leader in their families. Two important Scriptures underpin this role of fathers/parents as teachers and leaders of children. The first one is found in Proverbs 22:6: “train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” The second one says, “and you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
God Himself is family oriented. He wants to see unity, order and harmonious relations among family members. He wants men to teach and propagate good values, and creatively model the way for children. Men should also produce conditions for effective family governance in which children have a role. Nowadays children are going astray because men have abdicated their responsibility as teachers and leaders to their children. Some men have been damaged by the spirit of the world.
They are entertainment conscious and fun-loving people who care little about the future of their families. They spend so much time outside their homes and only go back to eat and sleep. They don’t even have time to check children’s schoolwork.
Thus, because a strong foundation for character development and effective learning is not developed at home, many children have learning difficulties at school. Men should resolve to turn things around, not just at the family level. They should display an impeccable degree of dignity and integrity as a matter of lifestyle.
They should create time for their children and wives. Individuals, groups and organisations that are mandated to support family building and effective parenting should assist men to bear fruit as parents, teachers and leaders. SIDE NOTE: It is not love for the child if you give him that car to drive before he or she reaches the legal right age of driving. Many fathers do this, thinking they show love for their children, only for all that to end in disaster, especially when they have not even gone through a driving school. Raise them well.