Assuming any of your children is called in your absence to say something about you, what will they say?
Listen to these:
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A 15-year-old girl said: “I prefer sniper to my mum. It is better for me to drink sniper and die than face the anger of mum. My father is in his own world”.
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Another 15-year-old girl said: “My mum? She doesn’t exist! I have nothing to do with her, even though we live in the same house. So, I tell her nothing; she does not and will not know anything about me, no matter how much she probes.”
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A nine-year-old said: I can tell my parents anything, and they will believe me, whether it is true or not. They don’t even know that at times I lie to them. If they try to doubt what I am saying I will just pretend as if I want to cry and my mum will say, “Leave him alone, please, he tells the truth, and my dad will just keep quiet.”
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A 17-year-old boy said: I rather die than tell my parents that I am broke or about any problem I am having. I made this decision since I noticed that they would use whatever I told them to taunt me any day they decided to have issues with me. They are so insensitive to my feelings. I have gone through a lot in life for the past two years, including being accused of stealing, for which I was almost killed, but my parents knew nothing about any of those things”.
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Yet another teenager said: “My parents are toothless bulldogs. They can shout till tomorrow, but it doesn’t move me because I know that it ends there. They can’t do anything to me. I know my ways with them. Moreover, they will not like me to expose their secret and dirty deals to the whole world.”
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Listen to this 8-year-old girl: “My dad cannot beat me. Even if he shouts at me, he will later come and start begging me. My mum can shout for Africa and even beats me at times, but that is only if my dad is not around. If he is around, he will not allow her to touch me or shout at me.
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Jane, 14 years old, said: “If I do anything bad or go to any wrong place, even God will forgive me because He knows that I am only trying to survive. My parents don’t care about me. Apart from paying my school fees and feeding me, they don’t know any other thing about me. Do they think that money is everything? They don’t care about my feelings. I envy other girls when they say that they told their mum or dad what somebody said or did to them in school. Nobody has time to listen to anything I want to say at home. So, my phone is my father, mother, brother, and sister.”
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Tom, 15 years old, said: “My parents are trying their best for my siblings and me. The only problem is that things are so difficult for our family; no money to get even the basic things of life. Oh boy, it can be embarrassing to always be the odd one among your friends wearing the most outdated outfits, not having a phone, you can’t even boast of having visited any of the choice places in town at this age, you can’t invite your friends to your home because your house looks like something from the premedieval ages and things like that.”
Tom continues…
“At times I don’t feel like praying or going to church, after all, what results have we got since we have been doing those things? Look at other guys doing yahoo-yahoo and other questionable businesses and see how they are enjoying themselves and even taking care of their parents. But my own parents keep saying to be patient, God will do it. When will God do it? I am tired ooo! I guess it is just the prayer of my mum that is still keeping me from joining other guys.”
Should I tell you more things youngsters say about their parents? Maybe later. But for now, I still ask, if your son or daughter is made to speak their mind concerning you, what will they say? What they will say about you is not just what or who you think you are, it is going to be more of the kind of relationship you have with them.
