“Parenting or child rearing is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively to the biological relationship.” (Wikipedia).

It is the process of nurturing and training a child from infancy to adulthood. It is a deliberate act of planting virtues and moral values in a child with the aim that the child would grow to be a complete person.

This process is very important because lack of it can lead to character deficiency in the child involved. Whether as biological parents or foster parents, someone who has been well fathered must play the role of a father and someone who has been properly mothered must play the role of a mother.

So who is a father? A father is the male parent, a nurturer, a role model, a guide, an influencer, a shaper of character , an instiller of discipline, a judge, a protector, a provider, and a leader.

Who is a mother? A mother is the female parent, a carer, a homekeeper, a discerner, a moral support, a warmth provider and an emotional support.

Every child needs both the fatherly and motherly figures. The absence of either can significantly affect the complete formation of character for the child.

We will continue in this series by looking at each of the qualities of a father and mother next week.

Have a great week ahead.

Adewumi Oni

08028395824

09095321147

wumioni@yahoo.com

Instagram: onadol

Twitter: @DewumiOni

Leadership is responsibility. Leadership means taking responsibility for the successes and failures of the team. Accepting responsibility for failure requires a lot of discipline. It is very easy to push the blame to someone else down the line.

Self Discipline helps leaders to take right decisions, because they know the ultimate responsibility rests on their shoulders. Leaders without self discipline are not bothered whether their decisions or actions are right or wrong, knowing that if the result is not right, they can always find someone to hang the blame on.

This is why leaders in some parts of the world take their work so serious that after a mistake, they resign even before they are asked to do so.

Leaders who are disciplined also raise disciplined followers thereby strengthening their nations, states, organisations or communities. They lead by example and walk the talk. Their followers also two the same line and set in motion a chain of positive development.

This reflects in their management of resources whether corporate, communal or public. They demonstrate high sense of probity, integrity and accountability in management of resources and decision making.

You cannot be a good leader if you lack self discipline. Nemo dat quod non habet. You cannot give what you do not have.

It begins with you. So get your life in order before you raise others. A disciplined life leads to orderliness, progress and positive development. If you want to prove this, check what you achieve when you plan your spending and when you do not. You will find the difference between a disciplined life and a loose life.

Thanks for following through this series, but it will be more helpful if we practice what we have read.

Have a great week ahead.

Adewumi Oni

08028395824

09095321147

wumioni@yahoo.com

Instagram: onadol

Twitter: @DewumiOni

Self Discipline helps to maintain a spiritual schedule. It helps to have a regular time for meditation, praying or fasting. It is unarguable that the spiritual determines the reality we face on daily basis. A disciplined person who takes charge of his spiritual will no doubt be in charge in reality.

It is a pity that a lot of people toy with their spiritual life and leave things to chance. Success hardly happens by chance, it is a product of discipline, preparation and opportunity. If you are not disciplined, you will be sleeping when you are supposed to be awake in prayer. If you are not disciplined, you will be feasting when you are supposed to be fasting.

Infact, people who lack spiritual discipline are easy preys for their enemies. Samson’s lack of discipline made him an easy prey on the laps of Delilah. There is also the story of how one of the late military rulers in Nigeria became an easy prey in the hands of women of easy virtues.

You cannot afford to be careless with your spiritual life. It is the foundation for everything in your life. Many have embarked on journeys that took their lives because they lacked discipline. You do not have to attend every function. You do not have to honour every invitation. You cannot be everything to everybody, you will die prematurely trying to do so.

“He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” Proverbs 25:28 KJV

Be disciplined with your utterance. Do not kill yourself with your declarations. Death and Life lies in the tongue. Declare Peace to your days. Speak life into your days. Do not allow reality determine your utterance, let your utterance determine your reality!

Have a great week ahead. Peace!

Adewumi Oni

08028395824

09095321147

wumioni@yahoo.com

Instagram: onadol

Twitter: @onadol2010

Let me start by first saying why I believe this topic is important and deserves to be treated as a series. We all struggles with certain habits and schedules.

Personally, I struggle with things like keeping to a gym exercise, starting and finishing a book, spending less time on phone, even completing medication dosage, etc. I also believe a lot of people out there have several struggles like these, some even stronger and of more dire consequences than the ones I have mentioned.

I believe, behind all of these struggles is the deficit of the virtue of Self Discipline. So I am hoping that this series will help a lot of us to overcome some habits, weaknesses and become better persons in every area of our life.

So let us define Self Discipline and put it in proper perspective.

Self Discipline simply means ability to exercise control over oneself. In other words you can say self discipline means self control. It is the ability to exercise restrain on one’s thoughts, actions, words and attitudes, with the aim of always doing what is right.

It is the ability to do what is right even when it is not convenient to do so, or when there is no one around us to applaud or praise us for doing the right thing.

It is a very important virtue for anyone who desires to succeed in life. The absence of self discipline is behind the preponderance of many vices and ills in our society today.

As a matter of fact, the more your self discipline index, the higher your chances of succeeding in life. Successful people have mastered the art of self discipline and they use it to hone their skills or gifts till the gifts become part of them. Yes they may be born with the gifts, but without self discipline in the area of consistent practice and sharpening of the gifts, they would not get far with the gifts.

Even the Bible recognises this fact in the book of Proverbs. “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” Proverbs 25:28 KJV. I am sure there are similar thoughts in the Quran and other spiritual books.

It takes Self Discipline to manage wealth and retain riches. Some people cannot control their spending, no matter how much they earn, they keep getting broke and even end up in debts. “A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches.” Proverbs 11:16 KJV

Self Discipline is a process and not a destination, so we must be careful not to assume we will one day become fully self disciplined. It is a daily process which helps us to form better habits, better character and ultimately better destiny.

Self Discipline requires paying a lot of sacrifices, denying oneself of so many pleasures and is actually a painful process, but it yields a lot of pleasure in the long term. For example, a student who has an exam to write would have to deny himself of the fun of watching TV, staying on the internet, or playing football before the exam. He would have to invest quality time into reading, studying and attending tutorials ahead of the exams.

In essence, Self Discipline causes short term pains but results in long term gains. It is thus a game of choosing pain over gain in the present, so as to avoid pain in the future.

Self Discipline is thus very important as a subject and this is why I have taken time to lay this foundation and also why we will be spending some time dealing with this issue while setting some challenges for ourselves during the series.

In readiness for the next discussion in this series, I want you to sit down, think and write down areas where you think deficit of self discipline has been affecting you. We will set some challenges next week as we continue in the series.

Have a self disciplined week ahead. Cheers!

Adewumi Oni

08028395824

09095321147

wumioni@yahoo.com

Instagram: onadol

Twitter: @onadol2010

http://www.adewumioni.com