Ato, ye hwe wo ma wo se fifi ye, mbre aso se wo be hwe yen ma yen se etutu
Ato, we brought you up from when your teeth started to shoot, now you have to cater for us till we lose ours too. (in literal terms)
These words may sound familiar to many youth growing up in the Ghanaian setting. Whatever dialect it may be in, its resounding echoes in the head of the recipient goes though generations. Is it wrong for a ward to cater for their parents or caregivers in their old age? Absolutely not. Doing that is a great expression of appreciation and affection for the sacrifices they might have made in their upbringing.
What is a bit detrimental about the quote up there is its disabling impact on the mind of he who habours it and the one who has to ensure it comes to pass. Majority of families in Ghana cater for their wards purposely with the idea of these wards becoming responsible for their inabilities when they grow up. Such parents do forget that these wards will grow to have responsibilities of their own as well.
In some families, their inability to secure good enough shelter during their lifetime, becomes the burden of their wards. So in effect, these wards start their own journey of life with a deficit of having to cater for essential needs of their parents and families before they consider their own advancement. He who chooses to do otherwise, is branded the ungrateful.
Not to be rather loquacious, the youth of today, must abhor the mentality of yesterday. We must focus on living lives which would not put a burden on our wards, but rather set them on a pedistal destined for forward thrust. Our thinking shouldn’t be based on they becoming the solution to our problems and failures in life. We must plan our lives such that the expenditure of accomodation, feeding, clothing, entertainment, healthcare in the days of our inability, would not be the burden of our wards, but rather act of appreciation from thoughtful minds.
How can we ensure this. Let us try these few means.
1. Plan your life right from now.
2. Sacrifice the superfluous expenditures and luxuries of today for a better tomorrow.
3. Save and invest the little monies that come your way.
4. Plan for your retirement or last quarter of life by indulging insurance policies.
5. Frame your mind to be self dependent till the end of life.
Thank you for reading.
Long live notchinyou.com
Long live our readers.
Feel free to share your thoughts.
It is better to suffer the discipline of today than the regret of tomorrow. Thank you for writing
Awesome points. I totally agree, our lives are our sole responsibilities, not anyone else.
Thanks Bro
Ah well, I think I agree with you but sometimes people take this as a reason not to support anyone even if they can
Yeah.. It can go that extreme.. But then the primary thing is to set your wards on an independent path.. Thereafter, they choose which way to go
Great one, truly our future is in our own hands.
Great thoughts put up👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽
Awesome Eno K…
Planning! Planning! Planning! Nice piece…It’s really essential we plan our lives so that we don’t become our children’s future burdens. Failing to plan is indeed planning to fail. This mindset of taking care of children so they take care of us make many of us parents waste lots of resources in life with the mind that one day “Ato” will grow up and compensate for our mistakes. It’s indeed a wrong mindset to have. I like the five keys.