FEAR OF WHAT DID YOU SAY THIS IS AGAIN?
Your dad is inapproachable, right? I know, and you are not alone.
Ask many young adults and they will have one tale or two to tell you about how strict, cruel or unapproachable their fathers are. These are answers we get all the time.
…I can’t approach my dad! He is always busy! I sometimes don’t see my dad till the weekends, (Yeah, I know the hustle isn’t easy for them), I can’t go out, Dad says no to late-night or partying, I’m grounded because of blah blah blah etc.
Well before we go on, let’s try to answer some riddle I saw recently.
What sound does a nut make when it sneezes?
What do you call a belt made of watches?
While you’re thinking about the answers, let me tell you a story.
Around when I was six or seven years old, I was sweeping the living room in our old house and then my dad called my attention, he told me to get him the steel ruler (If you know this ruler then you or someone you know is into art). He asked me to open my laps and he gave me 6 lashes there.
Oh my God, what could I have done? I was sobbing and shocked and then he told me what I did.
It happened that the gown I wore while sweeping was short, but that wasn’t the main reason- I wasn’t on my panties- now that’s the reason and since Dad sat adjacent to me, he could see my “bum.”
He said angrily ‘what if we were to have visitors, Is this how they will see your bum?’
Well, happy to know that ever since then I feared my dad, that was my first time doing such a thing, a simple dialogue would have been okay.
Moving on, you must have heard the term youthful exuberance, well, my 18 years was exactly that! Come on, who wouldn’t want to be lively and full of energy as a teen.
I was the ‘Omo-get-inside’ (meaning I was always indoors) which I still am, but during that point in my life, I was very likely to revolt when handed any punishment, which I did.
I started misbehaving, I walked out of my dad very often and would lock myself in my room crying that nobody loves me. Mehn! It was tiring.
It was always the yelling- from when I’m wanted to stay back in the church to talk to my peers, or is it the NO! I get to join a particular group in church or just going to visit my friends, or should we talk about the slaps I got from my dad all because I said I wasn’t hungry and wouldn’t eat at all. 🙃🙃
I could go on, but that has changed because I had a long chat with my dad and now we understand each other.
I’m even scared I talk to my Dad too casually now because Mom complains about it a lot but I still fear my dad just so you know; a good kind of fear.
You see if we begin to ask everyone about their fathers, you will hear stories and get tired, some will even make you cry, however, my prayer is that this new generation begins to work towards understanding their children.
From having
- Dialogues- have conversations,
- Chatting randomly on questions your children will never believe you will ask,
- Hanging out with your children often, to
- Being good examples.
Also, praying and trying to know the friends of your children or even praying to know who your child is, and not forgetting being there in their wins, processes and failures. These and many more will help reduce the fear that almost every child has towards their fathers.
Oh! I almost forgot! the answers to those riddles are
- CA-SHEW 😅
- A WAIST OF TIME 😁
On a final note,
Fathers, Please, don’t be Strict. If you had a rough upbringing, do better for your children.