Children can be very stubborn, many of us were naughty while growing up and there are times when our parents, guardians, and even a random elder would need to devise a means just to make us stop a particular habit we were addicted to. Serving punishment use to be the drill but at some point, many of us got used to the punishment and just for them not to hurt us, many of them came up with another system of keeping us in check.
Coming up false stories came to their rescue can and somehow, these stories did instill fear in us.
I don't know who started the idea of telling children lies just to prevent them from doing things they shouldn't do but the person deserves an accolade because that simple system did put many of us in our rightful place as kids.
After we relocated to a rural settlement as a kid, I developed an interest in picking snails after it rained. My mom didn't like it but she was not always home then and we were out of school so it was difficult for her to track us.
She has punished me and my brother several times but it didn't work. After it rains, our neighbor's kids and some kids in the neighborhood would call us to go hunt. We usually go into thick bushes and swampy forests which were dangerous but we didn't bother. We were fearless and always depended on our ability to run, I and my brother were fast runners.
On a particular day, after it rained. A senior brother in the neighborhood joined us for the snail hunt when we walked passed his house. He asked where we were going and after we told him, he said he would join us because he wanted snails badly so we weren't bothered that someone of his age was hunting for snails.
We left as usual and after filling a few bags with snails, the brother that went with us vanished. We only talked about it for a few minutes before continuing our search for the snail.
We were doing our thing when he suddenly ran out of nowhere screaming that he saw a human skeleton. He flung his snails into the air and ran as fast as he could, I tried dragging my snails as I ran but it wasn't convenient so I dropped the bag and ran as well.
Every other kid did the same and after we got out of the bush, he repeated the same thing that he saw a skeleton in the bush. He claimed that it could be the work of a lion or tiger and it made us terrified.
He warned us to stay away from the bush and we all returned to our respective homes.
I couldn't tell my mom about what happened when she returned home because it will only make things worse, she might punish us which wasn't necessary because the fear of the wild animals I harbored in my heart was enough punishment for me.
After that day, we didn't hunt for snails anymore. None of the kids that were in the bush that day ever suggested snail hunting again and the fear didn't end with just picking snails for me.
Running errands at night became a problem for me and my mom would have to threaten me with dinner if I refuse to go. Our toilet and bathroom were detached from the house, going there once the sun is down was another issue and I suddenly become a good boy.
The once fearless me became a scared baby, I became someone who always run all my errands and do my chores before nightfall.
Years passed and we left that environment to a developed area, somewhere far from the thick bushes and it made me happy but it didn't make me return to picking snails. Even when I see people doing it in uncompleted buildings, I always warned them to be careful.
I was in SS3 when we went to that area where we lived before, I accompanied my mom and was surprised to see how much the place had changed.
"I wonder where all the wild animals here went to or did they kill them", I asked my mom and she just looked at me like I was drunk or something.
I continued, "When we use to go and pick snails, we saw someone skeleton in the bush and there must be wild animals there".
"Maybe", she answered but as we were going, she paused and started laughing.
"Did you see the skeleton?", She asked me and I replied, "No".
The moment I mentioned who saw it, she laughed more. She explained to me that there was no skeleton and that brother actually helped parents who were complaining about their kids entering the bush because of snails.
She said the discussion started when she went to make her hair, the guy was working near there and he promised to make the kids in the community sit at home after seeing how concerned the women were about the safety of their children.