ADVICE AUNTIE AGNI.

I am a father of two children, a boy aged 14 and a girl aged 9. I am a concerned parent who is very focused on inculcating good values in my children and safeguarding them from the present day evils that come from social media and bad company. Hence, I started to practise religion more frequently myself and was thus able to foster a religious atmosphere at home. However, I have observed that, as children grow older, they become more vulnerable to adopting negative practices from society and they start to question religion and show signs of boredom towards religion. Also, my children's grades are declining. Kindly guide many parents out there like myself about how we can inspire our children to take their studies seriously, observe discipline in their lives, read regularly, avoid social media, curtail mobile phone usage and be religious.

A Concerned Parent

Dear A Concerned Parent,

To raise your children the way you want to, you will need to immerse them in the right environment. You will have to work hard on creating that environment for them but, at the same time, you will also have to be realistic. You cannot block the outside world. You cannot stop what goes on in your child's head. What you can do is introduce your children to your beliefs and your preferred lifestyle in a way that appeals to them.

'How can I keep my children on the right track?'

For instance, you cannot send your child to a 'liberal' private school because of the high standard of education offered there and then expect them to leave it all behind when they come home. You have to think carefully about the environment you are exposing them to. You also have to understand that your older child is now 14 and probably has many ideas of his own by now.

If your children's grades are going down and if they lack discipline, I suggest you hold off on the lecturing and scolding them needlessly. Sometimes children do need to be disciplined. However, when the...