The Foolish Farmer's Farm

Years ago, I remember passing with my parents through acres of farmland where my clan's men planted yams. The farmland was shared among the male children within my clan who were 21 years and above. It was used to count the number of tax-eligible men within my clan then.

Back then, as a little inquisitive boy whenever I came across a portion or portions of the farmland that was not as healthy as other portions I would ask my father to explain why some portions of the farmland were looking unkempt, not fertile, and full of thistles and weeds?

My father would retort, hmm, my son! Children are full of thoughts and questions, and you are not an exception.

Please, son, remind me to tell you a story about a foolish farmer's farm to understand why some portions of these acres of farmland shared among the considered eligible of our clan men were looking famish, and unkempt despite being left farrow and uncultivated before this year just like other portions that were looking healthy and properly weeded.

After all, none of the portions of the farmland was cultivated in the last ten years because we would always want to give the Umunna land ten years of rest before it was shared among the eligible.

When we got home that day and after dinner which was always a time for a moonlight story. I reminded my father about his promised story of a foolish farmer's farm.

Aha, my son!
He began to narrate the story. He said the story of a foolish farmer's farm is the story of a lazy and unwise farmer who loathes for good farm produce but is not willing to put in appropriate, necessary, and adequate efforts and attention that his farmland requires to give the expected output.

He told me that a wise farmer unlike a foolish farmer is always ahead of time. A wise farmer knows the kind of yam tubers he wants to plant and gets them ready enough before time. He knows when to clear the bush, till the ground, and plant his yam tubers. He gets his sticks ready for staking the yam as soon as possible. Furthermore, he knows when to manure his farmland and when to weed his farm. He knows when to harvest his produce and gets his bane ready.

On the other hand, a foolish farmer is not process and procedure driven. He is not proactive but reactive. So, he is always caught up in time. He has a microwave oven mentality and as such he is averse to delay gratification. He does not like strenuous work.

Therefore, he is always on the lookout for hirelings and hirelings can't cultivate enough that will fill your bane, my father would say. Also, he said that there was nothing wrong with hiring laborers as long as you could effectively supervise the laborers and their work and pay them well for quality work to be done for you. But he said a foolish farmer is a lazy worker. Therefore, it is not akin to knowing what quality work should be or look like.

Moreover, he said that the portions of the Umunna farmland that were looking unkempt and malnourished were generally products of foolishness and laziness on the part of the owners even though there might be exceptional circumstances and situations that could affect any portion of the farmland. He said though in case an exception was the problem with those portions of land that were haggard-looking; the owners should not have abandoned them to thistles and weeds to overtake them.

Furthermore, my father said that a farmer and his farm are likened to parents and their children. He said parenting is not easy work but enjoyable work it is to mold life.

Attention, commitment, presence, proactiveness, and more are demanded of parents and child caregivers if they are to deserve the desires of their hearts from their children and have them met.

In parenting and child training, you are dealing with perennial seeds. It takes time to plant, grow, and groom. Thus, your attention, commitment, presence, and proactiveness are tasked, and you are to deploy them effectively and efficiently for the desired results to show.

Be proactive in monitoring and following through with the developmental stages of your children and wards. Weigh your skills and your spouse's skills to spot where you needed to outsource consultant services in the course of your parenting and child training.

Ensure and endeavor that you manure, maintain, weed, grow, and groom the seeds and produce of parenting farmland proactively and on time. Don't allow thistles and weeds to overtake your parenting farmland.

Remember now and always what the scriptures say that the good master planted good seeds but while men slept the archenemy of man, Satan, the devil came and planted the tares. Therefore, be awake and alive to your duties and responsibilities in the lives of your children and wards for a blissful and peaceful home and society.

What are your take-home notes and lessons from the foolish farmer's farm as it relates to child-rearing?

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To your fruitfulness and greatness in parenting, enjoy your day.

🎍©#Ginuschuks Okonkwo

29042023