The Joys of Childhood, The Sorrows of Adulthood (I)

  "Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways".
        Nicholas Boileau-Despreaux

Childhood is the time when almost everyday is a holiday. The worries of life are never the concerns of the child. What concerns him or her is eating and playing. The child looks forward to receiving proper food, clothing and shelter from the parents without taking just a second to think of where the father or mother gets the money from. In fact, it is not the child’s business. Childhood is always filled with joy no matter what. There is nothing like problems in the mind of the child unless he is hungry.

To be fair though, childhood has its challenges. The main one and probably the well-known is the apparent lack of independence. Children depend on their parents for the basic necessities of life namely food, clothing, shelter and medical care. Hence, the child’s happiness depends on the parents to a far extent. It appears there is a positive correlation between the joy of the child and the ability of the parent to meet his/her demands. When parents easily provide their children’s needs and wants, they are no doubt happy. Mum or Dad may not be happy with Life. However, children may be too young to understand life and the woes of their parents, be it financial, health, or marital.

I remember the joys of my own childhood. School was always fun. After school, all I could think of and do was play, play and play. My books could wait till a week to exams. Nevertheless, I always performed excellently in school to the satisfaction of my parents. My stomach was almost always filled. I might have experienced occasional hunger. But that is normal even with children of affluent backgrounds.

 My Mother, a shop-keeper and Father who was a teacher, enthusiastically cooperated to provide my daily needs. At that time, we didn’t understand the troubles parents go through to put food on the table. When mother makes an attempt to lecture us on the economic problems and how hard it is to make ends meet in the prevailing Ghanaian economic conditions at the time, we get lost and confused like reading the Book of Revelation – not any better than understanding Rocket Science. 

The love, support and constant material provision and care of good parents interestingly place children under the illusion that adulthood is the best. With clouded vision,....

                                      

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