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Do you believe that children are a retirement investment?
Gold medallist Beatrice Chebet celebrates with silver medallist Faith Kipyegon after winning the final of women's 5,000m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on September 20, 2025.
What you need to know:
- I am seriously mulling over how to get my son into competitive racing in future, given the millions our athletes haul home with every win.
- It would be a cardinal sin to live a Rockstar lifestyle when your parents and siblings are wallowing in poverty back in the village.
I’ve never been an enthusiastic sports spectator, but when it comes to athletics, especially the marathons and half-marathons, if you hired me to cheer, you would get more than your money’s worth because I would perform beyond expectation. I would cheer so loudly, you’d put me on a retainer to ensure I turn up whenever your team is competing.
Watching Kenya compete in the just concluded World Athletics Championships in Tokyo was exhilarating. You should have seen me cheering on our exceptional girls, shouting “Come on! Twende! You got this ladies!” my eyes glued on TV, oblivious of those around me, lost in the magic that was taking place all the way in Tokyo.
Those moments filled me with immense pride as a Kenyan, and in that very moment, every challenge, every worry was forgotten. I have to sheepishly confess that many times, I have seen myself running like Faith Kipyegon. In my dreams, that is. The truth is that I cannot run to save my life.
Cushioned retirement
My youngest, a cheeky seven-year-old, once in a while challenges me to races, where he is gracious enough to give me a head start, during which he also, ungraciously, informs me that he will still win the race. And he does. Every time, even when I channel my inner Faith Kipyegon. When I finally reach the finish line, huffing and puffing, he always comments, “Told you…” before sauntering off, a smug look plastered on his face. I am seriously mulling over how to get him into competitive racing in future, given the millions our athletes haul home each time they do the thing. My child will not only become a millionaire, meaning no money worries, and my retirement will also be well cushioned.
I know there is someone somewhere that has read this and laughed pitifully because I come from Murima, and we’re not exactly known for running…
On a serious note, though, what do you think of this long-held belief in our society that children are an investment? That it goes without saying that once they become adults and start making money of their own, we, their parents, can finally heave a sigh of relief, sit back and wait for them to take care of us? After all, we slaved many years for them.
Contributor of poverty
Every story I come across where a young person’s death is reported in the media, the parents always say the same thing. That he, (or she) was the only hope the family had of getting out of poverty. If their deceased child was at the university, the parent will point out that they had looked forward to the graduation because it meant their child would get a job and start taking care of them. And if the child had been working, the parents will say that they, and their other children, had been condemned to a bleak future since the child had been the breadwinner.
This sentiment always evokes in me an emotion I’m yet to put a name to, and no, it isn’t an uplifting emotion. True, it would be a cardinal sin to live a Rockstar lifestyle when your parents and siblings are wallowing in poverty back in the village, however, what would it take to break this cycle that has spanned generations because it is a big contributor of the poverty that we see all around us? And isn’t it time that we parents of this generation changed this limiting mindset that has enslaved thousands of young people in our country, who, instead of securing their futures, use the most productive years of their lives providing for their parents and younger siblings?
One may argue that I am speaking from a point of privilege, but I believe that I have a point.
