Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame encouraged men and women to demonstrate equal responsibilities in parenting, and not push their children down the path they think they should pursue, but rather pull them by being exemplary.
She was speaking at Young Leaders Prayer Breakfast on Aug. 13, an event that aims at instilling good values in leadership, bringing together leaders from different spheres of the country.
Organized by Rwanda Leaders Fellowship (RLF), the event themed “Young Leaders and Parenting Today” brought together young people in government, the private sector, and civil society to discuss how to navigate parenting amidst other responsibilities.
“I suspect that you never really know the strength that gets you through juggling all that is required of you; you just do, because you must,” the first lady told participants, adding that they might even question their choices on the outcomes if things were done differently.
She drew attention to the drastic damage that absent fathers do to their homes and children, and asked them: “What if women and men, both decided that the bar, the streets, others’ homes, were more worthy of their presence and time, than the children who look to them for the guidance and love they need to develop healthily?”
Consequently, Kagame reflected on how the world would be if it were only made of poisonous habits. Depression, low self-esteem, trauma, and other problems, are linked in psychology, to absent parents.
“Today, we revoke such a world, through prayer, and by following our national values and choices, while also acquiring enriching parenting knowledge,” she noted.
First Lady Kagame also reminded parents to not be the force looming behind their children, pushing them down the path they believe they should pursue, rather, be a pulling force into the fate they desire for them, by achieving this fate themselves.
“If you want success for your children, endeavor to be successful yourself. Show them how attractive what you desire for them actually is,” she said.