Children: Innocent victims of broken love
Attaining the status of a stepchild is not a choice but one that comes about as a result of the changing scenes of life and time.
Sometimes, two people meet and out of love or some mutual sensual attraction, they get intimate, leading to the production of an offspring.
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Attracted to each other, as the two partners may have been, the by-product of their one-time intimacy may have led to the formation of a new life, though unplanned.
For the child that might be born, the likelihood of becoming a step-child is very high. However, there are other instances where some children have had to live with others who are not their biological parents due to divorce, separation or death.
One challenge confronting step-children is their having a hard time dealing with, quite often, the needless wrath of their step-parents.
What is troubling is that when that occurs, their biological parents are not able to defend them.
Encounter
I had an interaction with a number of friends to know the relationship they have with their biological parents or step-parents.
I had many responses on both sides, and this tells me that in this century not every child lives with his or her biological parents. It could be rated as having 30 to 70 per cent of children living with their step-parents.
A boy I spoke to said he faced difficulties living with his biological father and a step-mother. His father always attacked him and defended his step-mother.
I don’t understand why some step-mothers want to be seen as “Primus inter pares” at home when they were aware the man had children before joining the family.
Some step-mothers are good but words cannot describe others. Worst of all is the fact that most of them are not even engaged or wedded.
I become dazed when biological fathers are not able to defend their children to prove their love for them. They rather sacrifice their children for the love of their so-called wife (step-mother). This is one of the reasons why Father’s Day is not much celebrated in Ghana.
Solution
Billy Graham has noted that “a good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.”
As a society, we should acknowledge that the time has come for us to look into such social problems and find suitable and appropriate antidotes to them.
Parents, especially fathers, must learn that children should not be innocent victims of “broken love.” They should be responsible for the children they bring into the world.
The Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560), section 47, states that “a parent or any person who is legally liable to maintain a child or contribute towards the maintenance of the child is under a duty to supply the necessaries of health, life, education and reasonable shelter for the child.”