By Muhammed Kamulegeya
Dear students, I hope you are having a good time at home. I have been inspired to write this article to share with you tips on life since you are now at home. As a parent and school leader, I am aware of the challenges you deal with as you grow physically and mentally.
However, it is important to remember that you are not the only one changing. The environment you live in is changing, too. While your respective schools have undoubtedly emphasised the value of discipline, I hate to imagine that someone can lead you into the wrong direction because your parents have not played their role; to give you information about the changing environment you are growing in today and other facts about life. I speak to you from a parent’s point of view so you can get a wholesome picture of what the world is today. At your age, everything in life seems simple, doable and fun, but not each one of you has the will to see beyond the heat of the moment and consider the consequences of your actions. That is my concern.
You have read novels, watched love movies and observed the ways in which some of your agemates behave while at school in different parts of the world. One of the great lessons about love affairs is known as “the scarcity factor”.’
This means that people madly want what they do not have and the moment they get it, it ceases to be an issue. From an economic point of view, when something is scarce, it becomes expensive.
When the taps run dry, water becomes expensive, and at such times, everyone uses it sparingly, so as not to waste it. The reverse is true.
Be Unavailable
Someone will promise to bring you the moon from the sky and deliver it to your father’s compound. Funnily, you might believe them.
My advice is that be around to learn, but completely unavailable for sex.
The growth stage you have reached, puberty, is an interesting season. It is when everything in the atmosphere talks to you and your body hears murmurs of joy and unending fun, hence causing confusion and questions that have no answers.
Age is a virtue. Elders can see beyond the horizon. So, I strongly advise you to listen to them. Unfortunately, though, the actions of some elders today are evil. That is why I appeal to your natural intelligence to carefully evaluate the elders that you encounter and make wise decisions. I advise you against taking gifts, such as sweets, samosas, fried cassava and unrealistic promises from people who could destroy your future.
Who told you you are that cheap? To apply the scarcity theory, if you accept such gifts, you will become vulnerable to the giver and remember my words. You will lose all the value before the giver — the value that made the giver promise to shop the moon for you from the skies.
Tips To Follow
- You are your greatest gift
- Hold your body in high esteem
- Let your body blossom with the simple creams you can buy for yourself
- Do not scar your body
- Dress decently
- Beware of the indirect messages
- Learn to say ‘no’
- Value yourself
- Protection begins with you
- Focus on the future
- Add value to yourself
The writer is the headteacher of Kitebi Secondary School
