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Educationist cautions parents against forcing careers on children

By Ruth Adekunle
16 June 2016   |   2:55 am
Forcing career on children, experts contend, is one of the surest ways of stifling creativity in them, a development that could also lead to the latter living a miserable and an unfulfilled life.
Judge of the Colour Day Competition, Solomon Bello; Director, Louis and Lois Academy, Mrs. Kate Asekhauno; Head of School, Mrs. Popoola Olufunmilola, and  a parent,  Mrs. Inametti Akpevwe at the Colour Day celebration of the school in Lagos PHOTO: SUNDAY AKINLOLU

Judge of the Colour Day Competition, Solomon Bello; Director, Louis and Lois Academy, Mrs. Kate Asekhauno; Head of School, Mrs. Popoola Olufunmilola, and  a parent,  Mrs. Inametti Akpevwe at the Colour Day celebration of the school in Lagos PHOTO: SUNDAY AKINLOLU

Forcing career on children, experts contend, is one of the surest ways of stifling creativity in them, a development that could also lead to the latter living a miserable and an unfulfilled life.

It is in this direction that, for the umpteenth time, parents have be cautioned against forcing careers on their children and wards in order not to inhibit their innate abilities.

Director of Louis and Lois Academy, Lagos, Mrs. Catherine Asekhauno, while speaking at the school’s 2016 Annual Colour Day, said parents should take steps to celebrate their children’s creativity and help them pursue their own interests as they would, with such guidance navigate their ways through life.

She said that with their wealth of experience, parents apart from providing immense support to their kids through guiding, recommending and setting them on the right career paths, should also help in nurturing their creative endowments in order for such to blossom.

According to Asekhauno, since children know themselves, their subjects and areas of interest as well as their abilities better than anyone else, guiding them to take a decision remains a far better option than forcing decisions on them.

“We have a girl who is musically inclined although the parents don’t want her to do music. But we have made her parents to see reasons why the child should be allowed to do what she loves. Parents should allow their children the freedom to explore their ideas and what they want because the more they feel free to pursue their interests in an academic/educational sense, in their leisure, the more they strive to build a path of their own,” she added.

On the essence of the colour day, she said, “The purpose of the colour day is to espouse and depict the beauty of colours in our lives and what they represent in our individual lives. We are not just teaching our pupils the various types of colours, we want them to also know the meaning of these colours and how to relate with colours around them. That is why we are telling them that even outside the school, they have to identify colours and be able to tell the meaning as it relates to one’s life.

On her part, the Head of School, Mrs. Olufunmilola Popoola, said, “We perceive colours just the way we perceive taste. When we eat, our taste buds sense four attributes, which are sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Similarly, when we look at a scene, our visuals nerves register colours in terms of the attributes of colours. Colour attributes were first understood by the 19th century physiologist, Ewald Herring (1834-1918), who made the colour charts.

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