African Proverbs on Parenting

African Proverbs on Parenting
__
It Takes A Whole Village to Raise A Child

It is not hard to nurse a pregnancy, but it is hard to bring up a child. ~Swahili Proverb

When a four-year child is still crawling instead of walking it is time to cry out. ~African Proverb

The motherless child will suckle the grandmother. ~Bambara Proverb

Children will hate all those who give all things to them. ~African Proverb

A single hand cannot nurse a child. ~Swahili Proverb

A child’s lie is like a dead fish in a pond that in the end, always comes to the surface, explains his mother. ~Luo Proverb

Haste and hurry can only bear children with many regrets along the way. ~Senegalese Proverb

Train a child the way he should go and make sure you also go the same way. ~African Proverb

A child who is fearless is going to bring tears to his mother’s eyes. ~African Proverb

The art of negotiating is acquired from childhood. ~Congolese Proverb

A child who has no mother will not have scars to show on his back. ~Nigerian Proverb

By crawling, a child learns to stand. ~West African Proverb

What the child says, he has heard at home. ~Nigerian Proverb

If a child is not well-behaved, she is not sent by the mother to go alone to the market to buy things for her. ~Nigerian Proverb

A child one does not instruct on return, one instructs him when going. ~Bantu Proverb

When a child knows how to wash his hands well, he eats with the elders. ~Tshi Proverb

An immoral father-in-law cannot advise his children well. ~African Proverb

As you do for your ancestors, your children will do for you. ~African Proverb

You cannot beat a child to take away its tears. ~African Proverb

If your child is dancing clumsily, tell him: ‘you are dancing clumsily’; do not tell him: ‘darling, do as you please.’ ~Twi Proverb

A child who is to be successful is not to be reared exclusively on a bed of down. ~Akan Proverb

When a woman has ten children, there is nothing that happens in the night that she does not know about. ~Nigerian Proverb

A child who is carried on the back will not know how far the journey is. ~Nigerian Proverb

What you help a child to love can be more important than what you help him to learn. ~African Proverb

A child brought up where there is always dancing cannot fail to dance. ~Nyanja Proverb

Respect a little child, and let it respect you. ~Bantu Proverb

When a man curses his own child it is a terrible thing. ~African Proverb

A child does not fear treading on dangerous ground until he or she gets hurt. ~Bukusu Proverb

When you take a knife away from a child, give him a piece of wood instead. ~Kenyan Proverb

It is the habit that a child forms at home, that follows them to their marriage. ~Nigerian Proverb

When you bear a grudge, your child will also bear a grudge. ~Rwandese Proverb

If a mother steals with a child strapped in the back what do you expect of the child. ~African Proverb

As you bring up a child, so he will be. ~Swahili Proverb

A child who fears beating, would never admit that he played with a missing knife. ~Nigerian Proverb

It is the duty of children to wait on elders, and not the elders on children. ~Kenyan Proverb
A child is what you put into him. ~Nigerian Proverb

One should punish a child the first time he comes home with a stolen egg. Otherwise, the day he returns home with a stolen ox, it will be too late. ~Ethiopian Proverb

A child is a child of everyone. ~Sudanese Proverb

Patience is the mother of a beautiful child. ~Bantu Proverb

When the child falls the mother weeps; when the mother falls the child laughs. ~Rwandan Proverb

Too large a morsel chokes the child. ~Mauritanian Proverb

We desire to bequest two things to our children — the first one is roots; the other one is wings. ~Sudanese Proverb

When a child is asleep a mother’s attention is on the child’s stomach. ~African Proverb

It’s a bad child who does not take advice. ~Ashanti Proverb