Have you ever come across the word spoilt brat or have ever been labelled as one. I just found myself being curious about spoilt brats and couldn’t find the actual meaning of it. Relating to most of the TV shows I’ve watched I think spoilt-brat is a child who has been bestowed a lot freedom during their upbringing.

As you know curiosity killed a cat, I decided split the word into two. Focusing mostly on the word spoil and as I approached the ‘The New Choice Marlin English Dictionary’ I actually found out that the word has two meanings. Firstly the word means to damage something as to make it useless. Secondly the word means to impair the enjoyment. Generally spoil also mean literally pampering someone.

Most of the time the children who are labelled as spoilt brats are those who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. The reason for that is because they get almost everything they envy. Can parents really destroy their own children? The answer is simple. No, parents are their children’s well-wishers and they only spoil(pamper) their children because they want them to be always happy.

It isn’t wrong to spoil your kid but you have to be careful not to spoil their future. The world have changed and iksasa alaziwa (Future isn’t predictable). You don’t have to ensure your children’s happiness by giving them whatever they want because you can afford it but you have to focus on the impact it has on their future. Children may get used to what give them and if you stop treating them the way they are used to, they may behave rudely and start demanding.

From the show The unexpected:DJ Zinhle her daughter asked her for a ‘yes day’ where she was supposed to agree on whatever her daughter would ask for. Amazingly apart from being live and a loving parent DJ Zinhle didn’t just agree to her daughter’s request but considered the concequences of the ‘yes day ‘. What if her daughter asked her something that was not good for her or something that would’ve affected her studies like skipping a school or going to a party at night.

From the above passage I realised that parents should be careful when raising their children. They must not spoil their children’s future by pampering them. Pampering kids must not necessarily mean giving them everything that makes them happy without considering their future.

If you raise your child you must ensure that you give your child a valuable future. You may be rich but you still need to teach your child to do a few household chores. You also can’t buy your child whatever they want because you can afford it. Loving your child doesn’t mean you can’t shout at them or beat them if necessary. If your child have cry because you’ve denied them something, let them cry it’s another way of learning children have to go through during their upbringing.

If you’ve ever watched We Mamezala from Zee Zonke you will probably understand why children have to be raised in a sensitive way. You can spoil your child and make them happy but ensure that that happiness won’t turn into sombre in future. What I’m tying to say is pamper them but don’t spoil their future.