Positive Parenting

  By Dickson Tumuramye It is common practice to be guided into marriage issues by peers or friends. Some children do not find it easy to discuss such marriage issues with their parents, and vice versa. As such, young people intending to marry juggle on their own to find partners, and sometimes parents get to know when these two people have reached a certain point in their relationship, but their friends already know all that is happening. Some young people have never heard their parents discuss sex education with them. Young ladies may be fortunate to hear from their mothers about how to protect themselves from early pregnancies. Much of this advice comes as threats like, "If you dare get pregnant... you will see me..." The girl is not well taught about the consequences of getting involved in love relationships at a young age. There is never good guidance on what to do. Even some mothers don’t know how to talk to their daughters about how menstruation happens, what to d...

By Dickson Tumuramye Christmas is a season of sacrifice and celebration. People are preparing to celebrate the season with their families. This season involves traveling mostly to villages and other nice places to make the most of it. There are a lot of parties and a lot of fun. Our children get the opportunity to see their relatives and interact with them. It is a time of merry-making.   Nevertheless, such celebrations can only make sense with your relatives, friends, or neighbors if you are at peace with them. The Bible tells us "do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible" (Romans 12:18).   This takes me to the point of forgiveness. Forgiveness only comes when you feel at peace with those who seem to be your enemies or bad people, such as relatives, friends, spouses, or a child, among others. I don’t know who has ever hurt you to the point that you feel you can never forgive such a person.  People in this world  like to hold anger or abh...

By Dickson Tumuramye It is good news to have all our children back home from school except for a few who are still doing their final exams. I congratulate the primary seven and senior four leavers who completed the final exams. Other children who were not candidates have returned home earlier than expected. They will have more time at home with you. It may not have been an easy journey for some children and parents, but everything has been possible with hard work, determination, commitment, and a focus on God. In all, we thank God and pray that they will pass very well. These children will be with you for nearly two months and the Senior Six leavers for even longer. You can make good use of this time for your children to keep them from being idle at home. The COVID-19 pandemic taught us the importance of being multiskilled to enable us to thrive in all situations. It is not appropriate to have your children sleep, wake up to eat, watch TV, accompany you shopping, or go on outings whil...

By Dickson Tumuramye Life is full of people who are oriented toward negativity. They look at life with a pessimistic attitude. They don’t appreciate what others are doing. They don’t believe in themselves. Even where it is obvious that it is possible, they will show an attitude of impossibility and failure. The spirit of criticism and failure is their portion. It takes them a long time to believe that things will work out well. Some of these people are hard to convince to take up a big idea. When they finally buy into your idea, they are full of procrastination. They can’t believe in themselves, and they think that life is hard for them. We are now in times of economic hardship, and they can only see trouble in this season, nothing else. Whatever you mention, what comes to their mind is that the economy is bad and life is hard. An attitude is the way you think or feel about something, and this involves your mind, emotions, beliefs , and character. This affects the way you view l...