Trade By Barter?

I was in a store to buy some cake baking ingredients sometime last year, and the store owner and her daughter, who obviously had just returned from school were acting a fun script while the store assistant picked out the stuff I requested for.

The daughter brought out twenty naira from her pocket saying that she wanted to buy a measure of milk from the milk her mother sold. She insisted that she was not selling to her, as the money she held in her hand could not pay the bill even though she already collected the money from the little girl. She went on to say that the twenty Naira was a payment for the milk she consumed in the morning, before leaving home for school.

Even though the mother later held her hand out with a piece of puffpuff which would have cost five or ten Naira, asking the girl to make do with that and without returning the money to the girl, I already drew out an important lesson from that incidence, before they started Scene 2.

I remembered that incidence today and I would like to share with you what was ministered to my heart that day, as I watched on.

It amuses me how some parents have turned their children into their ‘pension managers’. Some parents actually spend on their children as a form of ‘investment’ through which they expect some sort of returns in future.

Once their children begin to earn salaries, they practically demand that they begin remittance of the interest on their investment, not minding the fact that the child has probably not gained proper footing either. “It is my entitlement”, they say.

Please, where in Scripture does it say that parents should demand returns for their ‘investments’ on their children?

Here’s what I know from Scripture:
“Good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren”. (Proverbs 13:22a NLT)

Don’t get me wrong, please. Children should cheerfully and joyfully give gifts to their parents once they are in a position to do so. I think it is just the right thing to do.

My point is for parents not to go around doing good for their children solely because they want a repayment. Some parents pressure their children so much that it stresses these children out. That is why some parents practically force their daughters to marry rich men so that they can get early returns for their ‘investments’ and in return making these ladies settle down with the wrong guys or even straining their children’s marriages due to their absurd demands.

Yes, to whom much is given, much is expected. But really, this is about the motive for giving in the first place.

I believe that we need to parent our children ‘as unto the Lord’, just like our Father in heaven takes care of us without any selfish motive.

If parents have this mentality, they will realize that they should also look out for their own future by having savings/investments, such that whatever the child brings later will only be an addendum to what they already have; not their only means of survival.

I pray that God will enlighten parents as to how to comport themselves in a way that is right and praiseworthy.

I would love to read your thoughts on this, in the comments section …

• OMOSEBI Mary Omolola, PhD

Photo Credit : tradefirst