WHEN I WAS FIVE...

WHEN I WAS FIVE...


As a kid, we lived in a very big compound then as I can vividly picture it at Five years, I was already trained that sweeping and washing the plates are my duties. I do this every morning... (AAA)

At five years of age I have fallen in love with Money, because whenever I cry, its only at the sight of money that I get consoled.I"m not surprised that at five years i was already freaked with money, after all I am from the Igbo lineage. It runs in our vein. I also remembered been call a nick name because of my complexion, everyone calls me Oyinbo which I really did not like.. (BBB).

I could remember that at age Five, I was already going on Errands! (Maybe because I grew up with my grandmother) On a fateful day I went to get something for a neighbor within the neighborhood and was involved in a bike accident. I also remembered visiting the beach,at age five, Maybe thats why I grew up to like that now..
(CCC)

Pictures are memories, whenever I see a picture relating to my age at that moment, I quickly pick the story that surrounds that year, at five years, I  remembered vividly how my mother baths me and wash my tongue with allum when brushing my teeth, on the believe that it makes the tongue cleaner, as horrible and painful as she does it, I secretly enjoy the taste. I also remembered how much love my mother had, for me. There is this part of that age I remembered so well, as little as I was, that was the part where I was forced to go to a lesson I really did not like... (DDD)

At five years, I always watched movies a lot with my mum, she made me love horror movies as a young kid, and most of all I enjoy the rides, as I go everywhere with my mom, I have learnt how to use a seat belt since I was five, because I would sit pinned to the sit at the back..(EEE)

Memories of five years is still as fresh as ever in my head, that was when I lost my dear father. Why would I not remember the age that I became fatherless.. My Five years, the age I would never forget.Rest On Daddy. (FFF)

Wow, Jesusbaby, five years is a very long time ago, but one thing that made me remember the year so well, was the year I said jokingly to my mother that I was going to be so great in life and that I would buy her everything she ever wanted... So till I grew up, Mother encourages me with that promise and I bless Almighty God for helping live up to fulfilling that promise. (GGG)

The best memory i have being five was with my Dad. i was actually a spoilt kid in his hands. Like i got Toys (kids Cars which you can enter drive yourself. I get driven to school everyday and got Short cake every morning. Also i could remember my experience with him at Premiere Hotel i was shivering because the room was fully air conditioned, and i couldn't take my ice cream.The day he gave me a full bottle of Coca cola, i vomited after drinking it ( guess it was too much). He thought me how to drink water after ever spoon of meal taken and actually had to beat the hell out of the stubborn me after disrespecting his Mother with this Hausa made Adeja Palm. I really recognise the palm anytime/anywhere i see it now even on Tv. My dad died when i was 7+,so i guess most of the 5years experience was the best with him (HHH)


When I was 5years old, I could remember my dad bought me a different type of biscuit (short cake) from the one he usually bought (which was nasco cream biscuit). I made sure I created a scene in the market until he changed it. Although he had good reasons for doing what he did, I refused giving in to it. (III)

When I was five years, I would read every book I came across, I love the books with pictures a lot, because i wiould attempt to draw every diagram i see, no wonder I am a strong Artist now. (JJJ)


Basically, to some people five years is a long time ago, not even a memory from such past, I remembered someone saying "I can't remember been five" I wasn't amazed at that because alot of us really can't.

Here is it!

 A memory of five years can be remembered if there were pictures to refer to. *PICTURES ARE MEMORIES* I salute the brain behind this quote.  Hence a child should be allowed to take as many pictures as possible even at a younger age.At birthdays, family gatherings and occasions. This creates the memories  in their minds when they are grown Ups.

 Recent research has shown that 94% of today's kids really love pictures.



Give a child the best childhood you can.. Pictures go a long way too.. You may never know what good the picture is until the child is grown...



Yetunde Adedokun

KidsAdvocate

My DAD, My MOM and I

       "I am from an average home, where we never begged and we are never satisfied".

I am the last born of my Family and the favourite of my parents. I actually loved my Dad more.
  Several times I've overheard my parents whispering sadly to themselves in our single room apartment. My father will say to my mother  "I sometimes wished I never had a family of my own, it will have been easy to run away in the pursue of what to survive on, infact I feel like a failure as a father and husband not knowing how to give my family the best life they should have".
My mother will say "It is not money that defines a home, but the happiness and togetherness they share, ( I also supports that school of thought). Let's stay hopeful afterall it gets better by the day".

One Morning, My father was fed up and decided to ease himself the stress of children upbringing, he scattered us all over. My eldest brother was taken to my Uncle's place in Lagos, my Immediate senior brother was sent to Grandmother's place, and I was sent to the house of My Mother's childhood and best friend, who lives somewhere in the east.
This was how I started to hate my own once lovely parents. I never wanted to speak to them on phone even when I had the opportunity to do so, because whenever I do, my mom will drop the call with tears saying " she misses me" I usually feel she was lying about that, after all you agreed with Dad to send me here.  I didn't know if it was the same feelings with my brothers over there, but to me, the separation was like been sold into slavery for the sake of poverty. An offence I promised never to forgive. I agree we had nothing and to get the best of education, my parent took such decision, this was to them the best and to us the most heart breaking decision of our lives.

          I was nine(9) years old when I got to Mrs Abimbola's house, I did everything a nineteen (19) years old will do. Mrs Abimbola who usually come visiting my mother and had the most friendly look any child can fall for, treated me like we never met. I was a complete stranger and the kids were happy that, they now have a maid. I was surprise as to how they make me do all the chores. How they will gather up and beat me like a pauper, Whenever I refused to help them wash their clothes. For Heaven's sake, this are my seniors and grown up girls, they should be the one to assist me but rather they will force me to do it all.

Oh No! This isn't fair enough I would cry to myself alone in the rest room for the fear of been  caught, I had thought of many ways of escape but none worked! I lived with them up until  eight(8) years when everything I do has become a part of me and I do them as my daily routine.
       I came back to my parent after eight years, done with my secondary school education, so here is my mother trying to relate with me the same way she did before we were torn apart.

Ooopz!
Little did she realise that I had learn to be on my own for eight(8) years without the love of a mother or the comfort of a father.

Here is what we are saying:

Dear parents, no one can treat your children better, nobody will love them the way you can! No one will have compassion on them the way you would!
Hence! Be aware that no child(ren) is happy living outside the comfort of their home. Poverty or not, is no genuine reason to send away your children from your shield and comfort zone, except they are old enough to take care of themselves.
  I don't care how closely related to whoever, please keep your children within your abode. You don't know exactly what they are passing through outside the home. Some kids can be bold enough to express and explain it to you, some children will not say anything to you because they know you won't believe them!

Here is what we are saying:  No condition is permanent, and we can't be poor forever. (Jeremiah 29:11)
Let us stay with you, pray with you and grow with you. Nobody can be like my Dad and Mum to me


Yetunde Adedokun

KidsAdvocate

NOT A CHILD FOREVER

NOT A CHILD FOREVER


"Stop treating me like a child!"
yelled EbunOluwa, "I won't take it anymore!"
"I am seven (7)years old, but someday in the future I won't be seven (7)years anymore."
"You will never let me do things on my own, you won't even let me eat my food myself, How long will you continue to do this Mum? I am tired. I want to live like every other kid in my class."

"EbunOluwa, I can't let you live like every other kids in your class. You are my Only child and I am only helping you to avoid stress, I just want you to know that Mum cares."
  "My darling, please try and understand that I am doing all these for the love I have for you as my only child, trust me by the time you are a grown up I will let you do things you want to do the way you wish to do them. okay?"


     Ooopz !
What exactly is wrong with our mothers? What has gone wrong with our sense of reasoning? I really care to know why the  mothers in this generation think the way they do:
How long will you continue to damage the future of a child?  Who told you that you can't show love to your kids and still allow them do the things that should be done themselves?
No one is saying you shouldn't show your children just how much you love them, Oh! no one is saying don't buy them whatever they ask as much as you can afford it.
📍
Here is what we are saying!
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Allow a child explore certain activities even as a child: the earlier you let them learn to do things on their own, the earlier they get exposed to independence; the freedom to organise their own life and make their own decision without the influence of other people. Hence a better adulthood.

Help a child develop self confidence at a very young age, such children grow up to be smart, confident and have a good personality traits. Allow them make mistakes, correct them gently and they will do it better next time.

You won't always be there to get everything done for them in life. You can as well start helping them grow now by guiding them in carrying out activities instead of doing it all for them. Watch them grow, not grow for them. Help them with their assignments; not do it for them. They can start learning how to wash their own dishes, clothes etc. Teach them, guide them, help them understand why, correct them. But please don't do for a kid what he can do for himself or herself.

It is high time parents learnt to allow their children express themselves no matter how little they are as this helps them in their growth to adulthood.
There is a thick-line between childhood and adulthood. The way you train a child is the way they grow to-be, (prov22:6)
  EbunOluwa who is just seven (7) years old today will be seventeen (17) years in ten years to come and twenty-seven years in twenty years.
 Hence He will not be a Child Forever and he will be grateful if allowed to grow without unneeded assistance.

Adedokun Yetunde

KIDSADVOCATE