They say nothing prepares people for parenthood and I understand why this is the case. The role of motherhood or fatherhood has to be done to perfection. You want to be able to be the best you can be for your kids and you want to be someone they can look up to and be proud of the things they learned from you.
Well, parents are also human and humans are known for being imperfect. This is where it gets tricky. So, in this post, I will be sharing two things. The first is about a time my parents were right about something they taught me. The second is about something they tried to teach me, but I wasn't receptive to that teaching till this moment.
Let's go;
They have always been right about Aiming high and hard work;
My parents made it obvious that everyone alive is required to aim high and work hard towards achieving whatever they want. It started with my academics as a young lad. My brain got sharpened because I worked hard and put in extra hours to have a better understanding of the courses I offered in school.
When I was still growing up, during those days in primary school, Mum always fitted me into extra lessons and covered the extra fees required. I see how hard she works to make that money and I wasn't going to do anything to make that money go to waste. I set high goals and the trajectory of my life has been punctuated by a series of aiming high and working hard enough to smash that goal.
I do think that what they said and did in my presence is one of the most practical advice that parents can give their children. Both of my parents are hardworking people. When we were growing up, my Dad usually came home once or twice a week. He spent so much time working and going on special duties while he served Nigeria.
Mum also broke herself in half with hard work. She's a superwoman, always stepping on her sewing machine and coming up with several styles that she uses to make her fashion designing business phenomenal. She works all day and for most of the night. And, she did all these while also playing her role as a Mum to a tee.
To be fair, both my Mum and my Dad probably haven't said "work hard" to my face up to 5 times. They didn't have to say it too many times. They used their action to teach me and my siblings and I'm so glad about the work ethic I have now.
The bit about taking a Siesta didn't vibe with me.
I'm the first child in a family of five kids and our household was always buzzy when everyone was around. From the moment we wake up in the morning, everyone gets busy getting set for work or school. For me and my siblings, we go to school in the morning before 7am and get home around 5pm.
We don't have the time to play around like normal kids and the weekend usually comes as a good time to do so. However, there are still home chores to be done on weekends and Mum stays back at home to overseas things before leaving for work around 9am or thereabout. One thing she always says whenever she's leaving for work and we are at home is "Remember to take a siesta by noon".
Well, not me! Haha.
I didn't disagree with Mum on a lot of things while growing up, but anyone asking me to just rest my ass on the bed in the middle of the day and force sleep to get a grip of me is surely pushing a weird button on me. Even in schools when it's time to take a siesta, I'm one of those who just keeps my eyes wide open until the end of the siesta time.
Mum wasn't always there to enforce the "take a Siesta" instruction and it's expected of me to do the job as the first child. However, I didn't believe in doing that. Haha. I guess that's why my siblings didn't get forced to take a siesta throughout the time I was at home.
Fast-forward to the moment I left home and went to a boarding school in 2008. Since then till this very moment, taking Siesta or sleeping when there is still sunlight is barely something I do. Some say it's a bad habit and that we need to get into the habit of sleeping during the day. For me, I can't afford to do that for most of each year.
I genuinely take pride in the things I learned from my parents. Most of them were easier to learn because they didn't just teach with words. They taught with action. As for the Siesta part, I think Mum only takes Siesta in very rare situations. Maybe 10 times in a year, at most.
I can't wait to rewrite that lifestyle for her.