The April Contest #2 by the sduttaskitchen | Child marriages!

In a small town, somewhere in the universe, there lived a small group of people — young and old, rich and poor. Each group had a designated space for the themselves. There was a particular space for each person age and financial status. They agreed that the young ones between ages 0-18 should spend their time together at the playground. One day, the number of kids started getting lesser. One by one, they left, even before they had a chance to bid their friends goodbye.

Let's analyse this.
The small town is a pictorial representation of the world. The playground is an illustration of childhood and innocence. The children who leave the playground are those who are married off early. They never get a chance to develop their potential before being shipped off into a new home and space reserved for mostly adults. This new space is called adulthood. The new home is marriage.

What is marriage and why do children get married early?
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Marriage is a union between two individuals often with the aim of starting a family. Children get married early for various reasons. Could be culture, religious beliefs, poverty or other circumstances. I have read about young girls, as young as 13, getting married off for something as trivial as helping someone get permanent citizenship (a sad phenomenon common in the US). Or those you married their high-school sweetheart clearly out of love or unplanned pregnancy. In other cases, these girls find themselves married to their partners due to a debt their parents could not pay off. But why make children pay your debt with their bodies and lives?

Do I support early marriage?
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Absolutely, no! The culture of child marriage has contributed to a lot of issues that affect children. They include:

• Female genital mutilation (FGM)
• Financial dependency
• Grooming
• Gender-based violence, etc.

Usually, a child is seen as anyone between age of 18-21. This is because, at this age, it is believed that they have acquired the knowledge, skills and experience to make better decisions. Their bodies reach maturity doing this time as well. Which means they can start reproducing if they are ready and have the means to sustain their offspring. However, some cultures marry off children before the barely reach puberty.

• This encourages FGM.

Because children's bodies are not so mature, some cultures engage in this act of FGM to get the girls ready. So many teenagers have lost their lives in the process due to excessive loss of blood or infections that affected the cut. In worst cases, this has resulted in death.

• Encourages financial dependency

Besides knowing how to prepare delicious dishes, some young children lack basic high income skills that can help them make money. These kids drop out of school early and in other cases, do not acquire education at all. Because they are not educated, they do not possess knowledge that can help them solve high value problems. You would agree that solving little problems means earning less money. So, they end up become financially dependent on their spouses.

What should parents consider before marrying off their children?
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Parents play key roles in approving marriages. However, many parents see marriage as an escape route. Some attach their children to eligible bachelors because they want to escape poverty or escape taking responsibility for their children's affairs. So they push them to a new person to shoulder the responsibility.

However, parents need to consider the downside of marrying children off at a young age. Because they are young and naive, they are susceptible to being groomed. Also, when they are overly dependent on their spouses, their rights can easily be violated. This is why domestic violence, bride-burning and sex trafficking are common in certain climes.

The best way to protect this kids is by nurturing them until they are old enough to survive without parental assistance. It starts with helping them acquire both education and valuable skills which they can apply to solve real human problems and earn from in the process. These skills include coding, writing, designing, etc.

But is this enough? How about child trafficking?
In certain cultures, parents make it a duty to investigate the background of suitors. This helps weed out people with wrong intent. However, this culture is dying out. Despite the existence of sophisticated security and technology, most parents fail to make use of these tools to gather background data of prospective in-laws which can help them track impersonators if issues arise.

Can education help reduce the rate of early marriages?

I'd discuss this from two angles — formal and informal education. It is true that education is the foundation of human and national development. It is the light bulb that illuminates the mind and opens our eyes to the countless possibilities we can achieve.

Formal or structured education plays a huge role in reducing child marriage. When children go to school, they are exposed to an environment that nurtures their minds until they are old enough to reproduce both mentally, physically, economically and biologically. Western education keeps kids longer in school until they are mature. This is why we need to prioritise women's education.

Photo by ICSA from Pexels

Informal education, on the other hand, happens outside the four corners of school. It involves enlightening people on issues and their consequences to society its members. Usually, pressure groups take up this responsibility to educate the masses.

Many families can gain more awareness about early-age marriage which can help them make better decisions which wouldn't hurt their children.

Conclusion

Marriage is a delicate institution. It is the most fundamental and important social institutions where great minds are nurtured. This is why it is advisable for individuals to go in prepared. You will agree that children are barely equipped with the means and resources to manage or protect this institution. They are also susceptible to abuse and financial struggles.

Oftentimes, I believe that the increased rate of child marriage amongst girls is duly because of the money received by parents and families through bride price. Since some parents are not financial stable, hence, they see this act as a form of investment.

We could all encourage the children to spend more time at the playground until they are fit to take up this responsibility. Child marriage and trafficking are actually forms of child abuse and should not be encouraged.

Thank you for reading through my takes on @sduttaskitchen's contest. Special invite to @bonaventure24, @akareen and @jeff-kubitz