South African musician and Africa Now Radio host, Nandi Madida, took to social media to share some valuable information for parents of neurodivergent kids.
Madida is married to Grammy Award-winning producer Zakes Bantwini and the couple have a eight-year-old son, Shaka, and a six-year-old daughter, Queen Nefertiti.
The âOrganicâ hitmaker, who has always been vocal about her experiences as a mother of two beautiful neurodivergent children, urged parents to cater to their childrenâs needs rather than putting them into a mould.
âItâs so important for us to empower our kids, the wiring of their brains is different and most of the time, this is genetic. It is beautiful when your kids feel accepted and not compared,â she said.
She continued: âI look at my kids and they go to different schools, I always think how someone like myself could have benefited from smaller classes, and whether that means mainstream, remedial or special needs ...
âI just think what would have been more beneficial was to have something more suited to my needs growing up.
âThe goal at the end of the day is for someone to have a good sense of confidence, good self-esteem, hopefully also function in the world, but what you donât want to do is break a child.â
Madida spoke of âego-drivenâ parenting, where parents have a certain goal in their mind for their child, however, if the child doesnât meet those standards, parents tend to think of them as not good enough.
âThat does a lot of damage from a self-esteem perspective. Our kids are different, they have different talents, different needs.
âNot every child needs to go to a big, mainstream school ... Some people need small classes in a remedial set-up with more support, some kids need to go to a special needs school, and feel included and have a great experience.â
Madida urged parents to choose a set-up that is conducive to their child.
âLet your child lead, let them help you navigate the right places and right spaces they need to be in rather than having a blueprint as to where they need to be.
âIâm enjoying my kids and all the great things they have to offer, but I also enjoy the challenges ...
âBut in all of that Iâd love for them to know that they were always accepted, they will always be accepted, that we love them so much through their ups and downs and to support the spaces that they can truly be themselves.â
Watch the full video.
Madidaâs video message received over 14k likes and got people talking about the difficult topic of learning disabilities.
Followers took to the comments to share their thoughts.
âCan we talk about the lack of remedial, divergent schools available for our children. This journey is quite painful not only on the kids but us as parents đ˘,â wrote @bo_ntle_s.
@mabongi_k commented: âLoad speaker on this subject đ⌠two of my kids went through the most difficult years of remedial but it was worth it!!! Kuyadlula!!!, as our kids grow they begin to learn new ways of learning that is different from their peers; they overcome their learning challenges with age.
âThey need patience and support.â
@shenice_andrea said: âYour babies are so Blessed to have you, thank you using your voice to bring awareness & light to this topicâ¨.â