Award-winning gospel singer and author Celestine Donkor is calling on parents to be deliberate about how they raise their children, stressing that early childhood is a critical window for shaping discipline and values that can become harder to instill later in life.
She made the remarks while speaking at the second edition of Convergence of Mothers, a parenting-focused event organised by media personality MzGee, where she shared personal reflections from her journey as a mother of three daughters.
Donkor noted that many parents often struggle with correcting behaviours they never intentionally taught in the first place, pointing out a disconnect between expectations and early upbringing.
“There is an age in a child’s life when you have some sort of control in shaping their behaviour, and there is a certain age when it is just too late to shape their behaviour,” she said.
With a background in psychology and sociology, she emphasised that children’s development is heavily influenced by the environment and intentional nurturing they receive while growing up.
She also drew from her own upbringing, recalling how certain habits formed in childhood became evident in everyday family life, particularly in relation to household responsibilities.
According to her, her mother, a trader, would often return from the market carrying goods only to meet the children indoors rather than coming out to help.
In hindsight, she believes the issue was not resistance from the children but the absence of deliberate training and expectation around helping at home.
“It wasn’t that we didn’t want to help. We were simply not raised to do that,” she said.
Determined to break that cycle, Donkor explained that she and her husband intentionally trained their daughters from an early age to practise basic responsibilities such as greeting others respectfully, assisting with chores, and participating actively in family routines.
For her, parenting goes beyond correcting missteps and is more about building consistent habits and values long before undesirable behaviours take root.
“The key point is catching them young,” she stressed.
She further urged parents of toddlers and young children not to overlook the formative power of those early years, describing it as a crucial stage for character development.
“If you are still raising a toddler, this is information you shouldn’t joke with,” Celestine Donkor advised.
