Please, give me a break, I’m raising my child!

There is nothing more difficult than having to overcome the challenges of raising your child in the presence of interfering individuals.

Often onlookers feel the need to dictate to biological parents how they should raise their “bundles of joy”, not knowing the struggles of parents, their goals and the dreams that they may have.

The cosmopolitan black parent has come under fire for the way their children use the English language as a means of communication.

We have been told how “un-African” it is, how far we have veered from who we are as a people, how we are lost and how we have sold out. I have been told that simply because my son responds to “sleep baby” as opposed to “robala nana”.

While I believe it is important for every child to know how to converse in their mother tongue, I don’t necessarily believe that for every parent this should be a priority.

The cosmopolitan parent may also be one just like me, educated in suburbia with English as a medium of instruction, our parents thinking it best to also communicate with us in English to improve the quality of our communication skills.

After all, ours was one of the first generations to escape the clutches of the bantu education system – our parents were desperate to afford us the same privileges they saw being afforded to our counterparts who spoke with such eloquence.

So, fast forward 26 years, and I am a parent; I am a mom.

I speak more English than I do Sesotho and, in turn, Amohelang, who attends school with those in the same income bracket which I was fortunate to grow into, is also taught in English.

About 80% of his day is verbalised in English, so sue me!

Horror of horrors … I have allowed the glamour of the English language to permeate in the development of my son.

While the English language is no measurement for intelligence and academic excellence, the ability to converse in an African language, most of the time diluted in city lingo, is no measurement for how African one truly is.

So, please, give me a break!

Kekeletso Nakeli-Dhliwayo.

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