It's more than eggs and semen

A parent is a caregiver of their offspring, not necessarily biological. It involves a great deal of consistency and routine for the kids, proper expression of love and affection, effective communication, discipline, responsibility, being a good model for the kids. It involves a whole lot of dedication of time and effort. It's a lifelong position which cannot easily be glossed over

A friend was complaining of how her son had lost weight since they got a live in maid from the village. I advised her to pay close attention to her child. The maid from responsibile for everything about the child from sunrise to sunset because the parents were very busy. It wasn't until they had gone to tge village to celebrate one of these festivities with family that an Aunt discovered the maid not only beat and maltreated the child, but also ate her food leaving the child hungry most times and due to threats from the maid, the child couldn't voice our to her parents

We as parents owe our children (every child under our custody) a duty of care, to love, nurture, protect and help them grow to become healthy, sound, well rounded adults. The kids didn't ask to be born or placed under our care, we wanted them, some of us even prayed and fasted for them until God answered. The duty of parenting our kids can therefore not be delegated to another; that is how kids learnt crazy characters, became exploited and even closed off from their parents, some mentally  and emotionally scarred, some abused....

In all of the things we arr chasing, the end gpal is to provide a better life  and future for a kids. What then will be the gain if in doing that we neglect the children for whom we are going through all these struggles and they grow to become deformed in character, abused or lost even to death?

You may not be there 24/7 but create time  and the right atmosphere for your kids to always know they can run to you and you'd always be there for them, loving  and guiding them.