I know it’s your child. I know that I was not involved in its conception. I also know that I didn’t retch each morning with you while you went through the most difficult trimester. Yes, I know all these. But see how poorly you have raised your child. It is hurting us all. Bad parenting hurts everyone. Can’t you see the damage your complacency has caused?
“you should have strived to get a plane ticket. Or at least changed seats.” I kept blaming myself all through the Journey to Enugu. What happens when you wait until the very last minute to get your tickets – fare hikes.
My very tight pocket screamed. And that was how I found myself at God is Good Motors that chilly morning. I had a very important family event, non-negotiable, I had to be there.
The journey would have started out well had my sanity not been interrupted by the skinny excuse for a preacher whose mission was to extort money from the gullible travelers, under the guise of praying for them. The preacher having cast out all the blood-sucking demons on the highway, got the people in the bus in high spirits. Dude even cast away all the ‘police spirits’. By Jove! You bet. They all ‘supported’ Mr. Preacher’s Ministry after the prayers.
The woman who sat beside me had two of her kids with her; a very inquisitive girl who kept looking at my face while she sat beside me and a boy who was busy playing with his toy gun. I should have seen the signs right? I should have known that some parents actually do not teach their kids manners and respect. Well, I didn’t.
You shouldn’t be called a mother just because you were able to breed children. No. It is a lot of work. And I believe strongly that if you are not ready to put in the work, don’t give birth to children. Don’t burden the rest of society. It turned out to be a 10-hour journey. It was the most horrible 10 hours of my year.
How have you raised a poorly behaved seven-year-old boy? How can you not be able to talk to a seven-year-old? What happens when he becomes a teenage boy with raging hormones? What the hell have you done woman?
In the midst of the squabble between the woman and her kid (the boy), he held his mother by the neck. “wey my gun?” “give me my gun now or I go slap your ugly face.” He screamed in pidgin English.
Who teaches a seven-year-old pidgin English? Personally, I think pidgin English is too razz. And to be taught to little children? Why don’t you allow them to get into the University and then decide for themselves if they want to be razz or not? You taught your little boy an untidy language, why would he not hold you by the neck? Why would he not slap you? Why don’t you speak Igbo to your children?
“haaa this boy, you are stubborn o”
“see what you are doing to your mother” some of the ‘concerned’ women in the bus worried.
I tried very hard to concentrate on the book I was reading. If you cannot raise your child properly, don’t expect that I would do that for you in a public vehicle. And you would be making the biggest mistake if you ever think that someone who shows absolutely zero respect to his mother, would listen to anything a stranger says to him.
Meanwhile, this woman in return took all her frustration out on her little girl.
“You sleep too much!” She kept hitting and screaming at the poor girl.
“why don’t you let her sleep, it’s a long journey,” I said to her.
“at least this one is better than your whinny boy” I muttered to myself.
You raised a whinny baby. You did this to yourself. You failed.