Afrikan proverbs on parenting

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

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

The motherless child will suckle the grandmother. ~Bambara Proverb

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

A single hand cannot nurse a child. ~KiSwahili 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The good mother knows what her children will eat. ~Akan Proverb

Parents give birth to the body of their children, but not always to their characters. ~Ganda Proverb

A child is an axe; when it cuts you, you still pick it up and put it on your shoulder. ~Bemba Proverb

Only a mother would carry the child that bites. ~Nigerian Proverb

He who fears the crying of a child, will cry himself. ~KiSwahili Proverb

A child doesn’t breastfeed from a stepmother if its’ mother is still alive. ~Afrikan Proverb

Do not make the dress before the child is born. ~Tanzanian Proverb

You only understand the joys of parenthood when you have your first child, you only understand the mystery of death when in mourning. ~Bahaya Proverb