@Rafd9828 14 July 2021 more from that month

Oh! Thank You my African Parents; My experience as a little child Hello everyone, I am so excited knowing that you guys are doing great at this beautiful moment. Thank you for sharing your ideas and knowledges through this amazing platform so we can have the opportunity of learning new ideas, acquiring new experience and happenings around the world we are living in through your articles.

Your day will not be complete without reading and sharing in my weird  experience as a growing child in a remote town of Igbo speaking tribe in Nigeria, Africa. Do you want to know the experience I had when I was a child in the mid 1980's,? Well, ***Yes!*** I was born in that year to the family of one beautiful Igbo speaking tribes of Nigeria in Africa. Growing up as a child was an experience I never appreciated back then due to the strict measures and method of corrections been applied by my parents when ever I made a mistake, right now I have come to cherish and appreciate it so much now that I have become adult, as a child I didn't know that all of these were done with so much love by my parents but as a child I couldn't open my eyes to see it from the corrections that were coming from my parents not until I became an adult. Our parents held on to this holy Bible verse which said ***"do not spare the rod to spoil the child."***

Back to my personal experience; this particular experience I always remember which I want to share specifically with you here, I know most of you guys in my age and above had a feel of my experience too especially if you grew up from this side of my world. The experience of been flogged or scolded for; ***1. Crying too long;*** As a child, if I did something wrong and I was scolded or flogged by my parents when correcting me, if I refused to stop crying even when cuddled by my parents, my parents will flog me again so that I will stop crying. ***2. Not crying after being flogged;*** I dare not prove to be stubborn to my parents. if I am flogged or scolded for doing wrong, if I refuse to cry I will be in serious trouble. ***3. Crying without any reason****;* crying without any reason whatsoever is an offence too. If I cry without any reason and when my parents tries to find out what the problem was and couldn't get the reason for crying, then I will be in trouble for just crying. ***4. Standing where elders are sitting;*** if I don't want to be flogged or scolded as a child then don't stand where the elders in the community or kindred are sitting to have meeting. When I mistakenly stand where they are having meeting, my parents will come there and flog me then take me away while I cry.

***5. Sitting while elders are standing;*** i don't sit while elders are standing if I try it, I will be in trouble as a child. ***6. Walking around aimlessly where elders are seated;*** the period when the elders are having their meeting we are not expected to walk or disturb their meeting, so my parents will always tell me to stay indoors and mistakenly if I am seen outside where they are having their meeting, I will be flogged or scolded. ***7. Eating food prepared for visitors;*** if I am caught eating the food prepared for the visitors in the house or looking at the visitors while they are eating, I will be waiting for some strokes of the cane afterwards. ***8. Refusing to eat****;* when I am asked to eat my food and I refused to eat it, then I will be going in for a serious flogging and surely I will end up eating the food by force in tears. ***9. Coming back home after sunset;*** I am  expected to come back home before sunset from where I went to play with my peer group. When I fail to come back home before sunset, I will be in trouble. ***10. Eating at the neighbour's house;*** i do not dare eat outside my parent's house without their permission. If I disobey them and eat at my neighbor's house, I will be scolded and flogged seriously. ***11. Losing a fight with my age mate;*** losing a fight with my age mate was a serious offence and I must not been seen crying and coming back home if I lose in a fight. If my parents happens to know that I lost in a fight with my age mate, they will not take it easy with me. ***12. Eating Habit;*** when eating my meal, I don't eat too quick, nor don't eat too much to waste the food, eating and talking, not finishing my food and also finishing my food and scrapping the plate were a serious offence. If I commit any of these offences I will be flogged and scolded by my parents. ***13. Sleeping while the elders in the house have already woken up;*** During that time most especially In the morning, I am not expected to go back to sleep when I have woken up from sleep, if I am caught going back to sleep, I will be flogged. ***14. Looking at your elder in a disrespectful manner;*** when my elderly ones are correcting me from my mistake and I look at them in a  disrespectful manner I will be scolded. ***15. Dish washing;*** If I don't wash the dishes after eating, When I don't wash them properly, When I break the plates during dish washing, I will be in for a serious scolding and flogging. ***16. When I refuse to bath;*** if I refuse to take my bath on time maybe in the morning or before going to bed in the night, also when I don't bath properly be rest assured to receive some strokes of the cane from my parents.

***17. When I misbehave in school;*** when my parents gets to know that I misbehaved during school time, when I come back they will also scold me and even flog me if necessary in other to show me that they are not happy with my report from school. ***18. Not responding to questions if asked by my parents;*** when I commit an offence and I am been asked some questions and I refused to respond or give answers to the question been directed to me, then I will be scolded and flogged. Even when I challenge my elder with insulting words, I will not be spared that day by my parents. I tell you some of these reasons for flogging and scolding me as a child may appear weird and wicked to some people and individual in this modern age but it really happened and I experienced it and surely they were the norms that shaped the adult of my today. These norms and the experiences I had didn't change me to a bad person or a bully rather it made me to be a better person today in the society and I will forever remain grateful to my parents for everything, the love and sacrifices shown to me and for not letting me out of their sight even in my stubbornness and troublesome attitudes towards them as a growing child those years. Writing and telling my story and my experience as a child is not to advocate for child abuse as most of people may try to see my story as, rather they should see it as a way of teaching and trying to inculcate good moral and discipline to our children with love. Because even in all my experience as a child, my parents never stopped loving me up till this day. *Kudos to you Oh! my African parents. Thank you my dearest parents for not sparing the rod to spoil me.*

THANK YOU For reading.🙏🙏🙏