These days, it is becoming more difficult for parents to spend quality time with their kids. Little time is left at their disposal as they go about looking for means to cater for their family. In a country like Nigeria, parents will have to work longer hours and harder. This leaves them with lesser or no time to bond with their family.
Father of three, Ezeh Martins Obioma is an Engineer who travels a lot and is barely around because of work. Here, he shares how he spends time and bonds with his family im his busy schedule:
My wife was in labour for 2 days. It was difficult for her to push so the doctor said they will have to ‘cut her open’. I was terrified and kept running helter-skelter. In the end, it was a success. When we got home after weeks, I had to do everything; No one to assist. I had to take a break from work for a month to stay home, running errands and making food until my mother in-law finally came. To be honest, it was one of the hardest moments of my life.
I’m not always home because I do a lot of traveling (sometimes for 3 or 4 months). They (my family) hardly get to spend quality time with me and I hardly get to spend time with them, but I make sure I call them everyday. I have to work to feed and clothe them, but sometimes I’m home for like a week and I spend it with my beautiful family. We bond a lot and play great games when I’m home for a week or more.
I’m barely around because of work but when I’m home with them, I make sure I prepare their food, bathe them, dress them up for school. My wife works as a teacher in same school, so all I do is wake up, do house chores, drive them to school, and go back to get them (because my sweet wife isn’t a machine). We hang out a bit after that and go back home.
My daughter, Amarachi is my favourite child. She’s hilarious and a drama queen. She reminds me of my favourite sister. They look so much alike. Amarachi is always right, and as the first child, she wants to order her brothers around (Chimezie and Dubem). I just like to watch her sometimes.
Parenting is hard. Anyone who says otherwise isn’t a parent or isn’t doing it right. Fathers are heros that we don’t talk about so much. They are demigods, our providers and protectors.
Fatherhood shapes most men into becoming better people. Research shows that high level of parental involvement is correlated with higher level of sociability, confidence, and self-control in children.