The Sunday News
Ivy Chiwaya, Sunday Life Correspondent
A LOT has been said about the plight of the girl child, albeit at the expense of the boy child.
It would appear Ubuntu is a trait which no longer exists in this era of the boy child, and that is why the boy child also needs attention so that he grows up to be a responsible adult.
Let’s explore what might be the cause of this lack of Ubuntu. Could it be as a result of technological advancements, lack of social amenities? What happened to our community centres in urban townships which used to offer swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts? These are places where the boy child used to exhaust his energy after school. These community centres have become white elephants, swimming pools are now used for fish farming while the courts have become flea markets.
Without such social places ideal for young minds, the boy child has been pushed to spend free time experimenting in beerhalls and shebeens. The rural boy child is not spared either, instead of being seen herding cattle they will be mingling with elders at Growth Points drinking all manner of alcohol.
In addition, family quarrels have an adverse effect on the behaviour of the boy child. When the father is known for coming home late from a beer drink and starts hitting his wife in front of the children the girl child is taught to accept abuse as a norm, whereas the boy child will learn to be aggressive, a trait which he will inherit for future use when he marries.
To make matters worse due to the Covid-19 pandemic finances are strained in many homes. So it means if the father likes beer, he would spend money on booze and leave very little if not nothing for the family, leading to quarrels at home with their wives and also forcing the boy child to seek ways of trying to help at home financially. By so doing, the boy child ends up doing wrong things like selling drugs and stealing.
However, the dilemma of the boy child has solutions. There must be institutions that look into the warfare of the boy child. Parents should see to it that the upbringing of the boy child is not different from that of the girl child.
The writer, Ivy Chiwaya, is an Upper Six student at Empandeni High School.
