#ThisisMyStory
#ThisisMyJourney
#ThisisMyLesson

Sure we had a fruitful and restful weekend. I had promised to write the final part of this piece last week but I felt it is better to do that as we return to work today.

My assignment here is very simple. It is simple because I have defined it in the part 2 of this discussion.

I had opined that for us to lead and guide the 21st Century child into greatness, we as caregivers must first LEARN OF the child and LEARN FROM the child. I further promised to explain in detail what the foregoing expression means.

It is my honest and well-considered opinion that we cannot lead to greatness or provide a compass for our precious young ones to activately, meaningfully and successfully participate in their PERSONAL SAFETY and SELF-PROTECTION except we understand and practise this concept.

Margaret E. Stephenson in her forward to Maria Montessori’s ‘The Secret of Childhood’ revealed an ageless truth: ‘Dr. Montessori pointed out to us, that if we are to help life, we have to study it. Studying it means that we do not try to teach it, we learn from it instead. We learn from this living organism, the child, its needs and tendencies. Only when we know the child’s needs can we begin to learn how to cater for them.’
Today, I have come to accept as true the inspiring and instructive words of Maria Montessori that ‘the child is an enigma… He has the highest potentialities, but we do not know what he will be.’

Having studied myself and others in the last 18 years, I have come to the irresistible and firm conclusion that if a child must be helped to maximize his life, CHILDHOOD has mystery that must be carefully unraveled through keen study and observation by primary and secondary caregivers.

Observing and studying CHILDHOOD must be done in 2(two) major modules, noting that the first is a prerequisite to the second and they are as follows:

To LEARN OF CHILDHOOD
LEARN FROM CHILDHOOD
To LEARN OF CHILDHOOD is a noble commitment to acquiring knowledge about the TRUE NATURE of CHILDHOOD through diverse sources, (particularly those influenced by GOD AND HIS PRINCIPLES) and formats, books, audiovisual and others cutting across diverse FAMILIES, CLIMES, CULTURES and GENERATIONS, CENTURIES and INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL and POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS. While this is necessary and a prerequisite in a successful study of CHILDHOOD, it is largely theoretical. Therefore our study must not end there.

To LEARN FROM CHILDHOOD is to pay particular attention to the precious child/children under our care as primary and second caregivers. This is a specific study of the child and it is PERSONAL and SUBJECTIVE. Accepting that principles are universal but applications are peculiar, we accept that there are no 2(two) FAMILIES, CLIMES, CULTURES, GENERATIONS and CENTURIES that are the same.

Therefore since our children are being raised in the Third World (African) FAMILIES, CLIMES, CULTURES and in this GENERATION and CENTURY of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we must study them specifically, one child at a TIME, relating our study to FAMILIES, CLIMES, CULTURES, GENERATIONS, CENTURIES, SOCIAL, POLITICAL and INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS and their EVOLUTION. Please note that FAMILIES, CLIMES, CULTURES, GENERATIONS and CENTURIES are ORGANIC in almost all things; therefore they evolve so is the child, being SOCIALIZED by them.

LEARNING OF CHILDHOOD is not an end in itself. It is to provide a COMPASS for us to understand CHILDHOOD when we LEARN FROM it and to help us interpret our findings in the best interest of the CHILD.

It is only when we employ our LEARNING OF CHILDHOOD and LEARNING FROM CHILDHOOD that we can be FOR CHILDHOOD and PRESERVE same in the 21st Century.

Our commitment here is to provide a compass to both caregivers to be informed, understand and accept responsibility for the foregoing seriously but pricelessly rewarding exercise.

It is also our commitment to involve our precious young people in this process so that they also become informed, accept and practise their own roles.

Our answer to the foregoing is our #SAFE4Movement and our tools are The S.A.F.E™ for Me Manual and most recently our monthly comic #SAFEVILLE which we earnestly invite you today to subscribe to for the preservation of the soul and identity of our precious 21 Century Children.

To join the revolution, we are just a DM away and you are on. We earnestly look forward to reading from you. We look forward to signing you up for new perspectives in relating with and bringing the best out of our precious children in a very complex and yet opportunities-saturated 21st Century.

Do have an INSPIRED day

Yours IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE PRECIOUS AFRICAN CHILD,
Taiwo AKINLAMI