Freedom Giant: Abigail Mavis Xatse (Mama Africa) Date: 3rd September, 2025
This is where we have gotten to; the protection and promotion of children’s rights have become central in homes, schools, and legal systems around the globe. While this shift is a positive one, it has also led to increasing debates about whether the rights of the child are now superimposing or outweighing the traditional methods of disciplining children. This article explores this complex issue and the importance of finding a balanced approach in the modern era.
Children’s Rights in the Modern Age versus Discipline in Today’s society
Modern-day children are more aware of their rights than ever before. Thanks to awareness campaigns, media, and international agreements like the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), children now know that they have the right to be protected from abuse, to be heard, to receive education, and to live in a safe environment. These rights are vital. They ensure that children are not victims of neglect, violence, or unfair treatment. Children today grow up in a world that places their well-being and dignity at the center of family, educational, and national policies.
On the other hand, in the past, discipline involved physical punishment and harsh rules. But in the modern day, such practices are widely condemned as harmful. Instead, there is growing support for positive discipline, which involves teaching, guiding, and setting healthy boundaries without fear or violence. However, this shift has created a dilemma. Many parents and teachers now feel powerless, unsure how to correct or guide children without being accused of violating their rights. This fear often leads to lack of control, poor behavior, and a breakdown of respect in the home or classroom.
Are Children’s Rights really superimposing Discipline?
In many cases, yes. Some children now misuse their rights, believing they cannot be corrected or disciplined at all. Adults are afraid to set limits, and this has led to an increase in disobedience, disrespect for authority, and even juvenile crimes.
For example, in some homes, when parents try to discipline their children, the children threaten to report them for “abuse,” even when the adult’s intention was to correct with love. In schools, teachers are hesitant to discipline pupils for fear of backlash from parents or education authorities while children’s rights are crucial, they should not be used as a shield to avoid correction or responsibility.
The Need for Balance
It is important to understand that rights and discipline are not enemies. Children’s rights do not mean there must not be discipline. They simply mean that discipline should not be harmful, abusive, or degrading. In this modern day, what we need is responsible discipline one that respects the rights of the child but still holds the child accountable. Parents and teachers must be educated on non-violent methods of discipline such as: Setting clear rules and consequences, Using time-outs or removal of privileges, explaining why a behavior is wrong and rewarding positive behavior.
In our modern society, the rights of the child must be protected but not at the cost of discipline. Children need guidance just as much as they need protection. Without discipline, they grow up lacking respect, self-control, and responsibility. The best approach is not to choose one over the other, but to balance both rights and discipline in a way that nurtures, guides, and prepares children for adulthood. In this way, we raise not just happy children but responsible future citizens.
The song of freedom for these children is being sung too loud such that it clouds the mature judgment of the elderly. Such that when a parent or guardian corrects, the child will want to check with outside rules before abiding by it. Rules should be based on the extreme forms of punishments that demoralize them and not just a mere punishment that seems to correct them. At this juncture, I wonder which generation the current parents are coming from; if they were from the same generation that we were under serious discipline which has shaped us today. But the rate at which parents are also fighting for the freedom of their children especially in schools, which happens to be the next place children spend most of the developing years before maturing, I could not help but wonder which kind of society we are creating for the future.
Is it all children that can be corrected by the modest way we are suggesting? We shouldn’t forget that after birth the children are not only for you they are for the society as well. Raising greedy, lazy, irresponsible and impulsive children who always want to get through by their own means, we cause the society to suffer from these ill-mannered humans in the near future. In fact we have started experiencing some level of crimes already. I wonder how worse it can get too.
Is it all children that can be corrected by the modest way of punishment we are suggesting? What do we or the society stand to gain from this wide range of freedom we have allowed or permitted?
AFRICAN VOICES INTERNATIONAL, FREEDOM IN AFRICA
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