Your boy child

May 16...International Day of the Boy Child. I celebrate all the boy mums who are doing the incredible job of nurturing their kids to be all that is good in the society. Well done. And keep up the good work. May you be rewarded.

But I also have some thoughts to perhaps help you be more mindful of your role…

I have so many beautiful male friends who nudge me in the path of knowledge, lend me their ears when I needed someone to listen, offer helping hands, share lots of joyful moments with me, cry with me and sit with me... whatever I need really.

And I have had my fair share of men who preyed on my innocence, lurked and hunted for my moment of weakness, felt entitled to my time, demanded my attention, and have been outrightly foolish.

As a girl, I lamented how much pressure the society put on girls to be raised with manners so that they could be of good standing. Only to allow men rot in decadence in the name of "Boys will be boys" or "that’s just how men do."

As a mum now, I see the power that I wield to shape minds, to shape culture, to shape society and influence the world. By raising my kids right. You have the same power too. And although I have been blessed with a kind and intelligent young girl, I will continue to lend my voice to those raising the boys.

And while you have been blessed with a boy child, perhaps you can take on the responsibility that has been bequeathed on you to raise him to respect women, to be kind, to do chores, to be fair, and to do that which change the narrative from that ill that so many men in our society are known for. We need not continue to cry woes on how much ills exist in the society when we have been blessed to birth the future from within us - our gorgeous children.

Perhaps you would tighten the rein more with the boys to live out a legacy of humanity and kindness, seeing as they are the ones who 'keep on' the family name. Africa is the future and the responsibility lies on us to determine what and how that future will be.