National Black Parents Code
WATOTO WORLD

National Black Parents Code
Guidelines For Correct Black Parents

  1. I will have a feeling of love and responsibility for all Black children, be they my own biological descendants or not. The extended family is a traditional way of life for us, therefore all African adults are potentially correct Black parents.

  2. I will teach what is right and what is wrong.

  3. I will respect my children and will demand respect from them.

  4. I will strive to produce in the home harmony, stability and an atmosphere of trust and love. I will provide opportunities for learning and will instill a sense of pride by teaching our past and present history.

  5. I will have control and power in the home, being that the home is the smallest example of a Nation-and if the home is not together you cannot deal with outside forces.

  6. I will find the best possible educational institution for my children and I will participate in some way in the institution.

  7. I will seek to establish and perpetuate those moral attitudes and values which will add to my children's personalities and characters: virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherliness, kindness and charity.

  8. I will develop a deep inner love that flows over and around the Black child to form a shield of protection, guidance, wisdom and strength.

  9. I will assume the responsibility for cultivating the development of Black youth. This cultivation process occurs mentally (through skill development); physically (through the sharing of food, clothing and shelter); emotionally (through the commitment to the national development of Black people); and, spiritually (through the living out of a superior value system).

  10. I will be about collaborating with others like myself, creating an atmosphere whereby Black children can grow and develop their potential in effective and meaningful ways.

  11. I will be responsible for strengthening the positive qualities of the child and for correcting negative characteristics. I will maintain and nurture positive stability in the Black family.

  12. I will be a model of the intellectual, emotional and moral discipline necessary to the child's understanding of, relationship to, and responsibility for the total Black experience-past, present and future.

  13. I will have as my goal harmony within and freedom without; with confidence in the knowledge that the ultimate in freedom is service to mankind. My whole person and lifestyle will transmit these same values to the young.

  14. I will help every Black child to develop the skills to survive. I will teach that the highest good in life is to serve Black people, helping all Black people in the struggle to survive.

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