You don't dare display the bravery at your parents

Before the Advent of the internet that was quickly accompanied by the general breakdown of morals among young people, discipline was the major focal point of childhood. In my parts of the word, kids were also taught bravery by the parents.

We were expected by our parents to always stand up against bullies instead of running back home crying to mummy. Well, many African mom's insisted that they never gave birth to a "weakling". So, if you are a weakling, it's better to lick your wounds in peace else the harsh criticism you would get from an African mom could be more upsetting than whatever harassment you got from a child of same age as you.

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But you are free to tell Mom about it if you had been outnumbered or attacked by a gang of little brats. In such a case, mom would personally take up the matter with the school authorities or confront the parents of the kids.

Generally speaking, parents had groomed their kids to be confident and outspoken even in front of the authorities and adults who might want to cheat them because they are little.

But ofcourse, you dare not display such bravery at your parents. In simpler terms, you dare not talk back at your African parents! Because even if a dog is mad, it should be able to recognize its owner.

Even when you think your parents perceptions or opinions about you are wrong, it's better to keep your mouth shut and swallow as much anger you could swallow than to talk back at your parents else you risk a good slap landing on the side of your face. This kind of parental slap could cause one of your ears to go deaf momentarily as you struggle to regain your senses while muttering inaudible words of apology. We call this kind of slap a "brain resetting slap" .

Infact, you should consider yourself lucky if it only ends at a slap. If the parent is heavy-handed, a slipper, stick, hanger, broom or even bucket could land on your body multiple times.

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Throughout your period of torture, it is normal for you to scream as much as you like so that the neighbors would hear and come to your rescue . But you dare not raise a finger in defense else the whole community will rush to your house and assist your mother in casting the spirit of stubbornness and disrespect out of your life forever.

Personally, my dad have never struck me and I have never disrespected or disappointed him ever since I was a kid. We have also seen children whose parents had beat them like drum at any small offense, and they later turned worse in the future. So, how true is the saying " spare the rod and spoil the child?" . On the flip side, we have seen people who have their parents to thank for never sparing the rod each time they erred grievously during childhood, else they would have gone astray.

Although, many adults might never know that they had been physically abused when they were kids all in the name of discipline

Times have changed, and just like everything else, modern parenting has also evolved psychological, behavioural, analytical and even spiritual methods of helping a child realise the consequences of his actions.

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Thanks for reading 😁💝