6dayscwc

There is this girl called Shade, her mum died when she was fourteen.

She is an only child, Her dad is an architect, but he hasn’t been doing too well since his wife died.

He is now without a job and he drinks a lot.

The good thing is Shade learnt how to string beads when she was 10 years old. This is what she now does to keep food on the table as her dad is no longer able to contribute.

She has had to learn how to hide the little money she makes as it always goes missing and when that happens he usually comes home drunk.

The last time this happened, father and daughter had a conversation.

He had actually cleaned up that morning to go for an interview unfortunately, they wanted someone younger with more paper certification.

His B Sc. in Architecture and nearly 20 years of experience was not enough to secure the job!

So he got distressed and got drunk.

Next morning Shade says to him:

‘Dad you know what, this is not going to work. We can’t go on like this. You are always drunk, you do not have a job and I need to concentrate on my WAEC exams.’

‘You know I am trying now,’ said her dad, ‘but things just are not going my way any more. I am a failure.’

‘Dad, you are not a failure, when you try once and it doesn’t work, you try again! You keep on trying until you succeed. Even if you have to do it a million times! That is how the world works.’

Well, that talk changed his world.

Two months later, he got a job and when people ask him how he was able to make a change from his old habits, he just said:

‘Shade, my daughter talked to me, and I got it sharp, sharp.’

This made me think about how we scream, shout and beat our children because we want to correct them.

Shade did none of that and yet she was able to elicit change in an adult, her father for that matter!

It seems these children know something we older ones don’t.

What do you think?

#mamamonte

#ayopejufalekulo

#addlomontessori