Nobody is perfect. We all are liable to make mistakes at one time or the other. And then, when people give us advice, especially people who genuinely care about us, they give it from a place of love and care, and many times, the advice is inspired by their personal experiences as well. They take what happened to them and use it as a yardstick for you, drawing the lessons and giving them to you so you don’t repeat the mistakes they make.
But then, this works many times, but not all the time. This is because no two situations are ever truly the same. There will always be factors that differentiate one from the other, factors that everyone will be unable to avoid. That is the reason why despite having the best intentions for us, every once in a while, our parents will also be wrong about things. I believe this is something everyone has experienced before, even if it’s only just once.
I have three sisters. Two older ones and one younger one, and then with my Mom in the house, it’s safe to say that back then I didn’t really have to do a lot of cooking. I think the main thing I did in the kitchen was to wash the dishes and even that little one, I struggled at it because who likes to wash the dishes?
However, as my elder sisters left home for school, it was just me, my mom, and my younger sister. It was becoming more and more difficult for me to stay away from cooking because myself and my sister were still in school back then and my mom was also working. My mom told me that learning to cook was not a privilege or a luxury, it was a necessity. Because when you can cook your own food, it will save you from a lot of embarrassment in the future. I didn’t see the wisdom in that, I kept avoiding such chores like a plague.
Eventually, she got fed up and made a new law. She bought enough foodstuffs and stocked up the house, but then she said no one was to ever tell her they were hungry. If you tried it, you’d regret it at once because of the way she’ll change it for you. If you’re hungry, you get into the kitchen and cook something! And not just cook for yourself, you’ll cook for everyone!
During that time, I was usually the first to come home, so I was always the worst hit by this rule. And that was how I started cooking, and I realized it wasn’t all that difficult. And whoever was cooking had the luxury of deciding what everyone would eat, so it was whatever I wanted to eat that everyone else had to eat. I just had to cook it well.
It didn’t make me enjoy cooking, to this day, I still try to avoid it if I can. But then, I don’t need anyone cooking for me today. Guys who can’t cook for themselves spend a lot of money and have to tolerate a load of bullshit from people helping them to cook.
In this place where I stay, there’s this neighbor of mine who is always calling on another neighbor to come cook for him. He’s always complaining that purposely inflates the prices of things to take money from him, and then she got too comfortable to the point that she was taking things from his house without asking and when he tried to complain, she would argue and even insult him. Yet, the next time he’s hungry, he’ll pick up his phone and call her to cook for him. Not that they’re married or dating ooo!
Learning to cook was one thing my parents were right about, and I’ve seen its benefits to this day. In my house, everyone cooks. Even my Dad! It’s something that is no longer a big deal for us.
Well, it’s not every time that my Mom has been right. I remember during the time I got admission into my current school, one of the things she told me was to focus on my studies. I was going to school to make good grades and not make friends. She told me there would be time for friends, there would be time for money, and I should just read my books and pass my exams.
Thankfully, I didn’t listen. How can you go to a higher institution and not make friends? I did focus on my books though and hustle hard for the good grades I promised her. But then, I had to focus on making money as well. And thanks to the friends I made, I found Hive, I became a professional ghostwriter, and I’m now a published author. I’m not a billionaire yet, but that status is not too far off.
So, I won’t say she was wrong entirely. Instead, I’ll say that if I had followed her instructions verbatim, I probably would not be making this post today. I probably would be in the school hostel with six other boys looking forward to the end of the month so I can get my next allowance. But I would have made my grades, right? Hehe…
We can’t always be right. But then, the right advice I’ve gotten from my parents has trumped the number of wrong ones, and that in itself is a win. I’m where I am today thanks to their guidance and counseling and even till the end of time, when they advised me, I would never take it with a pinch of salt.