An African adage says that "what an elder sees sitting down, even if a young one climbs the tallest of trees, he cannot see it."
In a lot of respects, that statement is largely true but for contrasting view from both parties, as in this case, a parents and their child(ren).
UnsplashOur parents gave us our first ever education. They stand as our first teachers. Mine did too. My dad takes his two notches higher with the regular stories, mostly of his experiences, which he infuses during moments of advice and teaching.
But the dynamic of life is constantly under the influence of change. Tomorrow, the student becomes a teacher. And while we sometimes do not listen to te advice of a parent and fall into trouble, same way, they sometime turn deaf ears to our prompts and may fall victim. They sometimes fail to realize that things no longer work same way as it did yesterday. They just believe they always are right and you just cannot argue. Call that the "Parent privilege."
Inspite of how true their words from back then have come to my knowledge now as very true, yet I do not consider them infallible. After all, no one is above errors.
Their bad
You know how parents believe they can see through those friends who wouldn't be of good, right? So I learned to be by myself partly because my parents didn't think of every kid as a healthy association for me. It was going okay although I yearned to be friends with some other kids until this day when I got bullied where I had gone to fetch water. It was at a popular water-buying location in my area. The other kids from my hood did not come to my aid. It wasn't if their character to ignore their own people, I know. But what could they have done for the girl who 'supposedly' thought herself as better than they or something, rather than stand and watch. It was such a sad day for me. But going on and on to the tap in future times, and getting to know some of them proved my parents wrong cause most of those kids were just like me, some even better in their mannerisms. Parents can be right sometimes about friends but you can't just come to a conclusion on people based on one-off encounters or any other.
My bad
When we were younger, at every slight chance, say you get back from school and begin to play, they tell you, "go inside and sleep," "don't you know that you should be having your siesta. "don't you know that sleep is good for your body as a growing child." I disliked those commands. Always too, they complained saying they wished they were as young as I was and had people begging them to go to sleep. It was baffling. Like they were grown and could do whatever they wanted at whatever time. I was not informed. While maybe some of my other mates played or when I wasn't even sleepy and especially since the people who ordered me to have some siesta were up and going about their business, it pissed me off. I couldn't wait to be an adult and not get any of those commands so I can stay awake all the time. But, look at me now. I cannot even afford to sleep the required time at night. It feels like I am being robbed during the day and at night. It's all it takes for me to see my parents were right. Just few minutes of sleep I am able to get sometimes that make me energized and refreshed confirms how important a remedy sleep is to the body. Now I wished i had listened to them and slept more and for longer because right now, I understand their complaints.
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