Veteran Nollywood actress Patience Ozokwor, popularly known as Mama G, has urged parents to let their children experience some struggles, saying hardship can help them become responsible and resilient adults.
Ozokwor shared her own experience, recalling how she fried buns and prepared chicken to sell at movie locations and audition venues while saving money for transportation.
Speaking in an interview with Femi Bassey TV on YouTube, shared on Wednesday, she warned that constantly protecting children from the difficulties their parents faced could weaken them.
“When you say, ‘I don’t want my children to suffer what I suffered when I was growing up,’ okay, that’s the best way to destroy your children,” she said.
“I’m not saying allow them to suffer. What I’m saying is allow them to struggle. Go through the process.”
She said her journey was difficult, especially while raising her children and caring for her husband, who battled diabetes and hypertension for years.
Ozokwor said her children also learned responsibility by seeing the effort behind the family’s possessions. She recalled that three of her sons helped with construction work while they were university students.
“I don’t say that your children will go through all the pains you went through, but let them go through little pains. Then they will know that it is not easy to make,” she said.
She also urged young people to work hard, saying, “I didn’t wait for my husband. I studied my husband. I knew the kind of person he was. I buttoned up and then tied my belt and I struggled,” she said.
“My children know the pains of making life better and that’s why they are all comfortable now, struggling on their own,” she said.
