AFRICAN PARENTS CONTRIBUTE TO SUICIDE!

15:08

All this suicide going on in our country is ridiculous. So many young people are committing suicide and it seems all we do is hear the story, mourn and that’s the end. Well, not like we can do much.

There are so many reasons why one would commit suicide. And it seems everyone is finding and talking about all the reasons except one.

PARENTS

Personally, I really think our parents are a major contributor to these suicides too. I mean African parents have such an African strict way of bringing up children forgetting that this is the 21st century and the methods or training that worked on them is just not working on us!

They make it so hard for us the young to open up to them when we have problems because they feel we are too young to have some certain problems or think about some certain things.

I used to open up to my mum a lot till I realized that any time I go wrong she ends up using what I told her in confidentiality as a bases to insult me.

And the funny thing is, our parents feel like we are young so if they insult us, they expect us to be cool. But that is not the case. We are so not cool. We are not okay! It brings down our self-esteem! Yes, I said it.

You cannot politely disagree with them because they would ask you "are you trying to teach me sense?" or "do you think you are wiser than me?"

When there are problems in their marriage, we become the middle person. And they don't see anything wrong with that. They don’t even know the frustration that adds to us. Parents, leave us out of your marriage!

You cannot try and tell some of them about relationship issues. the African society ignores the fact that their young do have feelings, date and hence experience problems that their expertise advise might probably help us. However, that is such a no go area with some parents. Yet most people are committing suicides due to this same reason.

Some people cannot even go close to their fathers to try and have a conversation with them because they have presented themselves as this "god" in the house.

Even when you are sad, worried or disturbed they think it’s unnecessary and you are being immature I mean after all you are just 20 what are you sad about?

Sometimes, we can’t even talk to another elderly person to talk to our parents because they won’t take it lightly with you at all and probably feel like you have betrayed them after all they do for you. I'm even sure the adult you are reporting to would take the side of your parents after hearing their side. I have been a victim of this before.

Someone anonymously asked a question on the app jodel whether parents were a reason for the suicide that people were committing and the comments actually caught my eye. I really do hope the old see this. But of course even if they do, no adult is going to try and change the way they treat us because they are old and we are young, they are right and we are wrong. Such is the African mentality. The child is always wrong.

Share your comments and views. Remember there are many other reasons but I have decided to focus on the one that has to do with our parents.