The Ikorodu Bois- 7 Deep Lessons On Parenting.
By: Dapo Alimi
Tags: Parenthood, Parenting, Parenting Advice, Planned Parenthood, Parents

Parenting is no doubt a lot of delicate, “thankless” work especially when your kids are still young!

It’s a very high calling that sadly many parents are still failing at, because they weren’t psychologically prepared for it.

You must have heard of the famed Ikorodu Bois who recently set the internet on fire with their comic remake of the trailer of “Extraction”, the blockbuster movie featuring Chris Hemsworth.

Ikorodu Bois

The mimic video went viral within hours, and has been viewed by over 6 million people including many top hollywood stars

These are just some young lads on the outskirts of Lagos and doing what they loved best.

Here is the question: What if the parents of these kids had stopped them and told them to “focus on their books”?

The world would have lost unquantifiable talent that could help to move the movie industry forwards

Mimic Movie Trailer Screenshot

Here Are 6 Lessons Parents Can Learn From Their Success Story.

1. Make Your Kids Into Their Own “Image”, Not Yours.

I know this romantic statement, “Let’s make babies!” is common amongst would be parents but hey! No, you don’t make babies, literally. In fact YOU CAN’T! You can only SEED babies into existence.

If I give you a cup containing sperm and an unfertilized egg (that you can’t see with a naked eye anyways and I say, “Manufacture a child from this!”

You wouldn’t know what to do, would you?

What does this all mean? It simply means that you are first a CHANNEL, and secondly, a Steward- Guide, who has been given a gift of trust.

Thus, since you didn’t make them, you don’t own them. If you don’t own them, you can’t do just whatever you like with them, and that includes not forcing your own version of success down their throats!

I call this Making Your Child Into Your Own Image. For example, wanting your child to become an engineer because you are one or because you love engineering, or forcing an uninterested child into a certain career path because you want them to continue the family business, after you are gone.

Making your kids into your own image is one of the worst forms of unreported mental child abuse, and misuse of God’s gift to you!

Rescuing the hostage

2. Be Their “Ability Detective”.

It’s your responsibility to pay great attention to your kids in their most formative years. This is this the period when they are at their creative and imaginative peak and begin to show patterns of where their biggest interests or curiosity in life lie.

Had the parents of the Ikorodu Bois not noticed and encouraged their interests 3 years ago, the world wouldn’t have discovered them last week.

Pay attention to your child so you can see where their strengths lie.

3. Guide, Don’t Just Tell!

Ever since the rise of the industrial age that made schooling necessary, there has been an increase in the act of creativity of been “trained out” by rigid education systems!

Many parents in the bid to “protect” their kids, also contribute to the destruction of their kids creativity when they rebuke without reason- “Don’t do this”, “Don’t touch that”!

Few things destroy creative intelligence like indogmatization- “this is what it is”, “this is how it is done and MUST be done”!

A child who is guided to the answer or the “WHY” definitely more mentally equipped for a diverse world than an indogmatised kid.

4. Encourage them to play

“All work and no play makes jack a …………………………..”?

This quote bears a massive message for us.

Play is how kids learn to interact with, make sense of and manipulate their environment.

Allow your kids enough time to play. Their brain needs it to fully develop.

The Ikorodu Bois have now become a global sensation through the power of creative playing!

Now as they grow older, here are some advanced lessons you can share with their advanced brains:

5. Teach them that impact isn’t always a function of size:

The Ikorodu Bois affected the whole world of entertainment with what kind of tools? Cheap toys and props made from things they could find in their environment!

How old are they?

How rich are they?

You get the message? You don’t have to be big to make impact! The power of your idea is what matters.

They used carton paper for a montage!

6. Teach them to start with that they have.

Look at the image above, What did you notice?

The Ikorodu Bois made their props from things they could find in their environment.

They didn’t wait to have big or expensive or “real” props. They had their big idea. They assembled tools that could do the job and they went to work!

In fact, I doubt the world would have been amazed by their work had they used “real” props

That’s the power of improvisation!

Improvised Scenes With Toys

7. Teach them to seek excellence instead of perfection

This one is connected to the previous tip. Excellence is all about getting the best possible results out of your available resources.

That’s what these boys did!

They made the absolute best use of the wheelbarrow, drink cans, pool of water, cheap toy cars. They didn’t wait to have real cars.

Excellence leaves room for continuous improvement, but perfection doesn’t.

While one adult somewhere was busy defrauding millions of people, a bunch of young kids were busy making the best of what they had!

That’s all of it in 7 points. I wish the Ikorodu Bois many more wins in the years ahead. They have already gained massive global exposure already!

Billionaire Femi Otedola and Daughter DJ Cuppy with the Ikorodu Bois

I really hope you picked a tip or two from this article. Thanks for taking your precious time to read, dear parent.

Please let me know, by commenting, which of these points speaks to you most.

Thanks!!