By Ebunoluwa Sessou

From an orange seller in Ogun state to a gospel singer in Lagos state. This is the story of Ayomide whose orange seller story went viral with his vocals while singing Tope Alabi’s song.

When discovered Ayomide was given a scholarship by Rev. Mother Esther Ajayi, the founder of the Love of Christ Generation Church, C & S (Iya Adura) in London.

Fortunately, Ayomide was not the only one that has been favoured by the use of social media. There are children whose stories have been described as grass to grace.

Among these children is a-9-year old girl, Temilayo Abodunrin who shows the world her skills by playing saxophone. Abodunrin shocks Nigerians as she plays her saxophone. Her instagram page where she displays her skills has more than six thousands followers. For her, social media has been a great advantage as she also trains some other children on saxophone. With her skills, she has performed in different functions including the Johnny Drille’s concert.

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What about Emmanuella Samuel? Emmanuella as she is popularly called possesses some comedy skills that are immeasurable. She has been an ambassador of different companies including Haier Thermocool.

With the help of social media, she has made her fortune with her comedy series that is popularly shared on facebook Mark Angel Comedy video. Today, she has more than 23926 views and still counting. The nine years old comedian has lots to offer through the help of social media.

Another child who has also changed the narrative through the social media is the little Warri girl, Success Adegor. Her road to stardom story was incredible.

The little girl was sent home from school for not paying her school fees and she complained at the punishment. Success even revealed that she would rather be flogged than to be sent home.

One of the neighbours saw that she was not happy and instead of letting her go home, she decided to do a video of her complaint about the punishment and the rest has become a real success for her.

For her, social media was not only a blessing but a place of stardom.

The 12 years old super young artiste, OZZYBEE a.k.a OzzyBosco Wonderkid has also dazzled his world through the use of social media.

He was the youngest African entertainer to be signed on as Brand Ambassador by the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, and Tigo Milk, CWAY Food & Beverages.

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Christabel aged 10 and Blossom aged 11 are both siblings from Cross River State of Nigeria and are both CEOs and Co-Founders of Chrisblo Glimmer Touch enterprise. With a specialty in Fashion and Designing, they both major in bow ties, hair accessories, brooch roses, hair fascinators and lots more.

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo also awarded the two young entrepreneurs  at the just concluded Small and Medium Scale Enterprise Award, MSME, in Abuja Nigeria.

They won wonderkid business and entrepreneurship category in the first edition of the Nigeria wonder kids awards.

Queen Esther Odenigbo, won Miss Green and White Nigeria 2016 pageant as Little Queen Ambassador for Peace & Hospitality. As a Peace Ambassador, she began her peace Campaign across Nigeria as she continually preached against violence on various occasions. She has been involved in charity works by visiting the less privileged children.

Many of these children to mention a few have been helped through the use of social media. They have not seen the advent of social media as a waste but an opportunity to write their names on the platter of gold.

Speaking on this issue, Dr. Juliet Ottoh, Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychiatry, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH , explained, “For children between the ages of 5 and 13 according to Sigmund Freud Psycho – Sexual development, is the Latency stage : it is the stage of Psycho – motor development, when the child acquires knowledge and skills.

“These skills give the child pleasure. On the influence of social media on children, she said, “It helps children buckle down in their studies, when they meet or see other children of their age performance on the social media. Also, as a guide they put the all they see on social media into practice.

“It connects children to their family members. For instance, on facebook, surnames link families together. It improves communication skills. There are sites where children can access phonics and spelling”, she explained.

On building the psyche of children through social media, she noted that, “In Psychology, the term self- esteem is used to describe a person’s overall sense of self worth. While noting that self esteem can be built in children in different ways including, “Being a role model by showing honesty and expressing one’s feelings in small doses based on the age of the child, and their capacity for cognitive development.

Success

“Focus on the positive behaviour: Acknowledge your own mistakes when you realize. Indicate to the child that everyone makes mistakes. Reinforce that there are no mistakes, only new lessons to learn. Help them look at fear in the eye, and to transform them instead of giving in to fear.

“Mind your response when children fail: instead of being judgmental and punitive, accept children’s failure as a natural process and help them cope and discover a new lesson.

“Set smart goals with children. SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

“Show children how to accept things they cannot change: not to give up at the first frustration. Nurture their resilience.

“Show your love, express it frequently: be free to express your love. Even when you are frustrated and disappointed. Separate their behaviour from your love”, she highlighted.

Susan Tayo, a Parenting Coach, is passionate about parenting, especially the ‘teen plus age’ because of the desire to see them grow up into stable young adults. Over the years, she has consistently focused on helping the teens  contribute their quota to the society, thus making it a better and more secure community and nation for all.

Her involvement in parenting is the yearn to reduce the anguish and disappointments of parents, many of whom only got to that ‘Teens Threshold ‘ in their parenting adventure without requisite knowledge or skills on the different stages of parenting. Teenage been the toughest and most sensitive stage of parenting.

According to her, “The Influence of social media on children cannot be overemphasized. It’s effect, positive or negative is all around us and impossible to ignore even if we wanted to. We all know it, we all see it and unfortunately, the list is inexhaustible”, she said.

Speaking on the positive, she said, “Social media helps in the area of Connection; Networking; Widens influence; and Strengthens relationships. Likes, follow, friendships all unlimited. Bridges the gap; the world practically becomes a very small place. Boundaries practically cancelled. Current, up to date on happenings around the world. Nothing hidden.  Business opportunities; internship and learning. Learning is at a speed that’s practically uncontrollable.

We can build the self esteem of the children in different ways is generally how a person feel about themselves (physical attributes takes a major chunk of this) and this usually rare. It’s head much more from puberty which could be as early as 8. Low self-esteem easily leads to so many negative issues; depression, bullying, mutilation, addictions etc. Building healthy self esteem for our wards is a key responsibility for parents/guardians and should be started as early as possible.

However, Dr. Juliet Ottoh enumerated the negative effect of social media on children, she said, “In one of Psychologist findings, it suggests that children who spends more than 3 hours a day on social media are twice likely to suffer from poor mental health.

There is a likelihood of getting into trouble or being depressed can increase Bullying is a growing trends on social media. Can affect children’s interpersonal relationship. It exposes to phonograph.

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Parents and caregivers should value their wards physical, Psychological, Social and Moral safety.

Corroborating, Coach Susan Tayo said, negative effects including, “Lack of physical interactions; isolation becomes an issue that could be fatal. Physically: Body posture, eyesight, hearing (loud music), attention span among others, Emotional: Abuse, trolls, among others. The child can be mentally and psychologically drained. It will enable the child not be serious with writings. “Grammar and writing skills impairment; shortening words and using slangs. Sexual predators on the impressionable minds. Decrease in productivity; too much time spent on gadgets, Cyber theft, bullying, identity theft will be in place.

Dr. Ottoh concluded by saying, “Parents and caregivers should value their wards physical, Psychological, Social and Moral safety.

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