Childhood is a wonderful season in the development of humans. It’s the stage where we channel our developmental state into adulthood. Most of these lessons are what we learn from our parents and also from our environment. This plays a major role in how we see the world and shapes our personality and character. My childhood was full of bliss and wonderful memories. It was a source of joy and happiness for me. As the first child of my parents, I felt loved, and I appreciate that love so much.
Our first apartment was in a large compound. It consisted of a two-flat apartment and several self-contained rooms on the side. So, I had a lot of mates to play with, but somehow my parents didn’t allow me to play that much. Whenever they were around, I couldn’t move an inch outside. Whenever they were at work, I had to sneak around and keep watch so I wouldn’t get caught. Sometimes I felt bored because I was always indoors due to my parents' training style. I had only my books to read and couldn’t ride my bicycle around much. What I enjoyed indoors was watching Super Story and wrestling matches with my dad, as he loved them. Fortunately, the electricity on our street was one of the best in the city, probably the best till date.
After a while, we moved to a new environment, and it was a nice place, different from where we were coming from. Because we were new, my parents had to, at least, make acquaintances with the neighbors. One of the neighbors’ children attended my school at the time. I was happy about this, as it seemed like the perfect way to make friends since my parents still didn’t allow me to leave the house.
The man and my dad became friends, and sometimes the neighbors’ children accompanied me home from school. Other times, I had to join them whenever my parents were a little tied up at work. We started to build a little connection at school and occasionally when we had the chance to meet at home. It was a bit difficult at first, but I sometimes followed my dad when he went over to greet the neighbors. They always had something to discuss.
One day, during the holidays, my new friend suggested we go to a nearby stream to swim. I saw this as an opportunity to learn how to swim and also to do something different from staying at home. So we went to the stream and spent half the day there. Unbeknownst to us, our parents had returned and were already searching for us, worried.
When we had our fun and decided to go back home, we were met by both sets of parents, and it was a scene. We created one.
I was severely dealt with and punished. I was that stubborn, I must say, but most times, a child will decide to have their fun, and that can’t be taken away.
What I learned from this incident is that my parents shielded me so I could follow their home training to the letter. They feared that interacting too much with other children might compromise their efforts, which would have been bad for what they were trying to achieve. It is a lesson I plan to apply when I have children of my own.
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