Child's name, origin and determinant

 

A CHILD IS BORN

According to the tradition of every family from ages, When a child is born the next thing that  happens in his or her Life is a celebration that a new creature has entered the earth and at this point a name will be given to the child. But the name which is given to this child may be determined by the society at large or by direct members of the family of the new born baby or even by the Parents alone. According to the understanding we have about every name. It is widely accepted that one’s name is predicated upon his/her future. These may be true because the meaning and origin of a name has to connect us with the life experiences that our people, parents or society had suffered or benefitted from before our emergence on earth. In Africa, the case is not different that the dominated part of family settling in Africa are domiciled  by polygamous family so, name became a means of direct or indirect way of expression  especially in the side of women married to such families.

According to Prof. Daniel N. Akunaeme a name could be threshold of the origin or occupation of a person. To identify a person in the society that person’s name is not enough to guarantee his/her trace hence there are people who have the same name which may have emanated from the similar or exact circumstances their families passed through in life. So, it is therefore important to add the person’s occupation for easy and proper identification. It is on this note that I concur that names by which we bear individually or as a group has a relationship in one way or the other with our past and in another way relationship with our future.

THE CHILD

Now the child is born from the Marriage or from a relationship of a man and a woman through the grace of God. So, what next?

When he/she was born it was recognized that certain individual has entered the earth and nobody knows his/her purpose in life. But one big thing is that immediately the child is born, the birth will go its way without any massage to the baby. Guess what! The baby starts his/her struggle to live with the help of his/her nursing Mother and Father and this time, communication is best interpreted and understood by feelings which are being expressed by the baby and immediate response by the parents become the nature of their job until the child reaches a certain stage to the call things by their names according to how he/she had been taught at the tender stage. 

 The child grows in a state of confusion because the birth that left did not wish him/her any other thing than if you can stay, stay well, If you cannot stay see you and only the baby knows the address where the birth had accompanied him/her from which is by my understanding where the born had transited to too.

Sociology defined a child as a tabular rasa in which the society writes. Here it is clear that the child is a novice and can only adapt as well as adopt the principles of this earth before he/she is qualified to live well in this life and such principles are best communicated to him/her though the family which is the first school that one undergoes before he/she can join the society at large. Hence, there are three (3) Es that determines are attitude   in life and these are; environment, education, experience.

A child in the growing principles become so concerned over his environment based on what the parents have talked through his/her senses and some of the stories may be true while others may be false. So while he/she acts in a manner that will suit his/her   communicated fact under some formulated falsehood he/she becomes a victim of his/her surroundings where hatred, envy, jealousy and other unforeseen reactions will start coming up thereby endangering the child. While he struggled with his/her environment and its circumstances, the child is sent to school to read out meaning of some reaction by him/herself. In the course of this, his distraction takes him to a true destiny in life but his problems and worries did not stop or end there.

Hence he encounters danger in his/her search of knowledge and wisdom but through name again he/she can Identify his opposition and experience will determine how far he will go in life by using the oppositions as his/her opportunities.

THE FAMILY

  The child begins his/her journey in the family where he/she cannot act according to his/her will rather according to the will of the parents. 

In the polygamous house where I came from the child in fact inherits a lifetime, unforgettable memories that will eventually mislead and mess his/her life up and consequently land such person into doing what has nothing to do with his/her purpose in life. Examples of this inherited problem are:

1. The child is segregated from his/her Folks, neighbors and is conditioned to live and die in silence especially when he/she should share with or contribute to the society.

2. The child is discriminated and subjected to envy, jealousy and hatred that will in turn make him/her to grow in stigmatization.

3. The child grows with fear of the unknown and in trying to be secured he/she will be influenced more either negatively or positively.

Imagine a child dying in silence of being stigmatize and becoming dangerous at a tender stage, what you think? Probably the child’s attitude or character will become worrisome in the rest of his/her life. Because the situation will without benefit of doubt demand libration or attitudinal change which can only come when the child mingles or interacts with positive minded people outside the family setting. But the issue there is will he/she liberate him/herself since he/she does not have any will to act on his/her own.

This is where I have come to relief you by letting you understand one thing in the polygamous family and that thing is and that remains nothing but competition. 

Competition will be discussed in our next post. Follow us be updated 🙏🙏