Kill the rod

Having a disciplinarian as a father taught me a lot. As a child, my Dad had so many expectations from me not regarding the fact that I was a baby. My Dad would wash my
clothes, cook, bath, take me to
school, pick me back from school, go through my school notes  and when night comes he keeps
checking me in my room till dawn.

The activities continue again.
What I didn’t understand then was that I was been groomed to act in a certain way. My Dad is never late to a function, if he won’t attend he would give a prior notice, he was a clean and tidy man, like saying everything in its place
(housekeeping), he can’t look for a thing in the house because we all
know where it is.

So I grew up this way. I keep to appointments and always on time, my first turnoff against an individual especially the male counterpart is coming to a meeting late and not calling or sending a text why you would be late. I became thorough and as much as possible take responsibility for my actions.

I will beat deadline even if it would cost me my sleep, after all, I am my Father’s daughter.

One thing he didn’t teach me was to be diplomatic; I say it as I see it. Diplomacy…. I had to learn that on my own and in the hard way when I realized people love lies and
preferred to be lied to. Lies thrives you know.

Now the Almighty blessed me with an adorable daughter, she is just 29 months but I realize I equally
expect her to start displaying the values I teach. I expect her to show me she is my daughter too….one
of my friends call her ‘toletole.’

She would put her things and other things at home in the proper place.
With her I am able to evaluate myself as a mother.

I had a journey from Lagos to Zaria, it was a wonderful one. The traffic in Lagos was terrible as Lagos to Ibadan took us 7 hours, it was a mad
journey. The woman who sat beside me was with her 19 months old son.  The boy had so much energy and was doing the things of boys.

What just got me a little upset was the fact that the boy was beating his mother and if other passengers
berate him he would slap and beat them too. I sat close to the window so I faced the window all through. 

Usually, I would have made friends with the woman but in other not to caution her son I had keep a straight face. So I was looking for my friend to come bail me out.

I don’t have issue with this baby boy but the mother. He is a baby but he is smart, he knows what he is doing and this is his formative years, if he is not properly cautioned everything may go horribly wrong. It is not enough to be mothers but to lay down rules for our kids. Some should be flexible while others should be rigid.

20 years from now what do we truly expect from our babies? That which we want to see should start
now. Every child is intelligent and has the ability to read their caregivers, they would act based on
what they deduce.

The society needs more of these children because they are our future; they are the bedrock of every society. Their formed behaviour would be what we put in them now or….?