A loving mother always scolds her children

By Sarafina Sanerivi 14 January 2017, 12:00AM

In the world we live in, all mothers are different. 

Some mothers are kissing mothers, and some are scolding mothers. Some can be both; they kiss their children after scolding them. 

However, one thing is for sure. They do it out of love. 

For Fofoga Lavea, 56-years-old from the village of Leusoali’i, she truly believes that a loving mother never gets tired of scolding her children.

“The role of a mother is to look after her children,” Fofoga told the Village Voice.

“We are responsible for raising our children, feeding them, providing for them and showing them how to live their lives.

“In Samoa, the women are responsible for a lot of things. But this should always be their priority.

“Our children always come first. And it is the mother’s duty to make sure that the child is healthy and strong.”

It is also the mother’s duty to make sure that the children stay out of trouble. 

“In Samoa, there is a saying that goes like “O tama a manu e fafaga i fuga o la’au ae o tama a tagata e fafaga i upu ma tala,” meaning “young of birds are fed with the blossoms of trees whereas the young of people are fed with words. 

“This means that our responsibility is to constantly tell our children what to do and what not to do.

“We should never stop telling them off they do something bad. If we really love our children, then we should never let them do whatever they want.

“We as parents know life better than they do. So we should scold them always and try and direct them to the right directions.”

Moreover, Fofoga understands that a lot of people especially children don’t see this as an act of love. 

“Many children don’t listen to their mothers and don’t obey what they say.

“Some think the advices from our mothers are useless so they don’t heed the advice and don’t listen to their mothers. 

“They don’t know how one small advice can make a lot of difference. One small advice can change a child’s life.

“But our children need to understand that we scold them because we believe they can do better. It’s our way of pushing them to do better things and to achieve more in life. 

“We scold them because we don’t want them to end up in a bad way or bad life.”

Nevertheless, Fofoga also compared a mother and a father when it comes for raising children. 

“I can honestly say that most children are closer to their mother’s than their father.

“That’s how important mother’s are in our families. Yes, we do scold our children all the time, but we are not like the men.

“Men usually lose their tempers when it comes to children. They always reach for the brooms, shoes, wooden spoons and others when they are angry. 

“But for us mothers, we have patience and we know how to control our anger. However, that’s how it is for us here in Samoa.

“To me, our children need to understand that a loving mother is someone who will never stop telling you off even if you are 30 years old. 

“Just because you’re a grown doesn’t mean that I am no longer your mother.

That is something our children need to understand. We will never stop being mothers, and as a mother, we will never stop loving our children and we will never stop scolding them so that they can do the right thing.”

By Sarafina Sanerivi 14 January 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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