SINGLE AND UNMARRIED: WHOSE PET ARE YOU?

As a single unmarried matured adult (or young adult, as the case may be). It is expected there be someone you can tell just anything, in order to guide against lone decisions on your relationship journey.

In cases where there are sound parent-child relationship, then either of the parents become handy as your number 1 counselor and confidant. This is encouraged and is good.

Matters of love, romance and relationship require multiple good advice and multiple godly counselling from experienced individuals, if one intend to make a good and happy end of love related decisions.

Never walk through the journey of romance alone, godly, friendly and parental advice is key.

That being said, seeking parental guide and help and being a “mum or dad’s pet” are two different things. And only a wise young person knows the different between this two lines.

In the first, one major thing you will notice is that, you, your future and your wellbeing are the focus at all times and all advice will be so guided. Once you notice your counselor, now your parents or a close relative, placed your wellness above all else when counselling, then you are good to go but if in a situation where advises and counselling are always tending towards satisfying parents selfish interest, ego, personal ambitions, political ambitions, financial interests, societal perception etc, then you need be careful. This is why the Bible encourage multiple counselors, so you can compare and contrast ideas.

Proverbs 11:14 “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”

But where a man/woman is a victim of parental advice as described here, and the person is not even aware of it, then you have a “mum or dad’s pet” situation at hand.

This is the real cause of domestic troubles between some married fellow and their in-laws, who want to influence and controls their children lives and marriages just to satisfy their own personal ambitions or ego, not minding if such will promote the happiness or personal and family peace of such children or not.

Mum or dad’s pet are easily recognized by their immature attitude and approach to issues, and hardly can say anything without “mommy said” or “dad said” but rarely “the Bible said”.

As much as many of our fundamental values are based on what mum or dad said, that we have discovered to be of great benefit to us and our future homes, where there are no Bible said, regularly and consistently, please be weary, you might be dealing with a mum or dad pet or even a “pastor’s pet.”

True maturity is based on parental acquired values and “Bible said” values, not one without the other.

Written by OLUMOFIN Kehinde Benjamin, Group Admin, 3pG Christian Ministry and President, Fellowship of the Married and Matured Singles.