Howdy folks 🤠how was your weekend? I didn't do much today except the usual thing I find myself doing a lot lately: coding. Earlier today, I took an online class with Harvard university and it was a bit slower today coz I was taking notes. I usually just listen to the lectures before now but I figured it's better I take notes to help me commit most of what I am learning to memory and it worked quite well.
After about 6 hours of coding, I decided to take a break and the first place I went to was nairaland. I immediately saw a weird news headline that involves a 7 years old boy, you know what happened? Apparently, the said boy broke into a home, cooked food, stole phones and money too, a 7 years old boy! (Read it here).
I just couldn't believe what I was reading but it was reported by a reputable news outlet in my country, so it gotta be true. The young boy broke into someone's house and ransacked the whole house looking for things to steal. He stole some money and 2 phones but that wasn't enough, he went ahead to cook rice, isn't that just crazy?
He cooked rice, ate all the meat in the kitchen, and also drank some milk he found. After eating and drinking, he decided to cook another round of rice, then he went out and took his loot to his grandmother, kept the phone and money with her, and returned to his place of operation to continue cooking! He even left the rice on fire before going out and by the time he got back, it was already burnt but he still ate it.
Now get this, he broke into a random stranger's house to steal and he still has the guts to go in and out as if he owns the place, he even cooked in the person's kitchen! Initially, I was doubting his age and kept wondering how a 7-year-old child got the initiative to pull something like this, it's just crazy! But after reading through the post, I believed he is really 7 years old, coz he is clearly behaving like a child.
This wasn't something that was just narrated by a third party, the boy was later on caught and that was when he confessed. The crazy part is that this wasn't even his first time, he said that he has broken into 4 different houses in the past before he was finally caught in house number five, and he is just 7 years old!
I just didn't know what to think after reading that crazy post, who do we blame for this? How did a 7 years old boy become very good at breaking into people's houses? He admitted that he used a cutlass to break the locks, how did he learn to do that? From movies or what? The whole thing just doesn't make sense and sounds like something taken out of a fairytale, but apparently, it really happened.
How do you even correct someone like that to become an upright person? Should we say he is born to steal? But before a solution can be found, the cause must first be fished out. Was he hungry? Did someone send him to do those things? Does he not have anybody taking care of him? These are questions that were supposed to be asked but what I heard was that the father of the boy had to sign an undertaking to take him away from the community.
The victims of the break-ins decided not to report the case to the police because of the boy's age and I agree that it's the best course of action, I mean, are they supposed to lock him up. But the way I see it, the father is actually the one that should be punished for the crimes the boy did. He is the one that is responsible for him seeing as the child is still very young.
The father has failed in doing his duties, why will a young boy of that age just pick up stealing and breaking into people's homes? People like that grow up to be a big problem in society, he has already started stealing now at the age of 7, what will he now do when he turns 18? It's truly scary just thinking about it, the next generation is going to be truly wild!
I truly hope the father will be able to put him on the right path. He is still very young, so straightening him out will be much easier. There's a popular saying in my country that if you want to bend a fish, you don't do it when it has already gotten too big, you do it when the fish is still little. What that means is that it's easier to correct children and put them on the right path when they are still young.
So, what's your take on this? What do you think is the cause of that young boy becoming a thief and what can be done to remedy the situation? Do let me know in the comment section
Thanks for reading 💖💖💖
Saturday July 2nd, 2022
It's obvious that the child lacks care. Imagine a thief cooking and eating in a strangers house. Another clear example why parents who aren't ready to be parents should not give birth to children