Living in a Nigerian home is not easy sometimes. Most times, we get to a certain age in life and we just want to leave our homes. I constantly hear my friends complaining about how they couldn’t wait to leave that house but I couldn’t relate. My home was (sometimes still is) my safe haven. I didn’t fall in the category of people that wanted to leave home; in fact, I couldn’t wait to go home at the slightest opportunity I got.
Although things are different now. I cannot say the same anymore… somehow, I have begun to relate with my friends who couldn’t wait to leave their home. Everyday there’s something that my parents do that I have a problem with. In my opinion, I think our parents go the extra mile when it comes to protecting us from the world. They have an entirely different idea about what it means to bring up a child.
Growing up, I did experience a reasonable level of freedom; but just enough to get me by. Just enough. I’ve never been the type to always go out anyway so it wasn’t a struggle for me to keep up. Although in this case, freedom is not only limited to going out and hanging out with friends. Sometimes, it concerns other aspects of your life such as decision making. I’ll use myself as a quick example; my dad wanted me to study Economics in school, I didn’t want that but I did anyway. That single decision changed my life in ways that I cannot even begin to explain to the world! Freedom of choice is something that’s not exactly being practiced in many Nigerian homes.
Nigerian parents will encourage you to live your life for the people; maybe not all parents, but most of them. They constantly remind you of what Mrs folusho will say and how Mr Bolaji will look at you. You cannot bring shame upon this family… it’s sad that their kids’ choices and discussions mean very little, compared to society’s. Constantly making decisions your kids can lead them into depression, which will be swept under the carpet anyway.
Comparison is the middle name of many Nigerian parents. They will compare you to their friends kids, the kids their friends tell them about that they don’t even know, the kids they see on television and even your siblings. They think it’s a way to motivate you to do better, it might work for some and not others. There are different ways to bring up different kids because bottom line is: everyone is unique in their character.
After all said and done, we still love our parents unconditionally. We know they want the absolute best for us; maybe they’re going about it the wrong way but it’s the thoughts that count. Hopefully, we do better than them.
What issues do you face living in an African home? Share in the comment section, I’d love to know.
Love, Tobi 💕
Wonderful!
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Thank you
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Overprotectiveness…i get that it comes from a place of love but sometimes, it stifles creativity and learning important life skills on your own for when you leave home eventually. There’s something called stifling with too much doting. It’s a struggle for me to do some things because my mum wants me to stay in a safe corner,it’s better now though. I hope I don’t do this with my, lol.
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‘ it comes from a place of love but sometimes, it stifles creativity and learning important life’ Girl! You couldn’t have said that better.
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I wish this was in the front page of every newspaper in Nigeria cos parents really need to read this . I couldn’t agree with you more on this . Enough is enough! Most times they completely forget it’s actually your life and you should have a say in their their decisions concerning you. Imagine choosing a program for your child to study in university only and all because of the title that comes with it?! Without any regards to whether the child has was it takes to do well in such program. In most cases the child struggles and struggles ! This post reminds me of someone very close to me. Thanks for sharing. Well, like you said too, I know we will do better during our time.
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We’ll def do better!
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Like the one that gets to me the most is the excessive advice. Every small opportunity, advice. Lol it’s pretty much just the mother hen instinct. Lol
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Lol i can relate. Even my Dad does this at every given opportunity. One small advice will turn into a full blown lecture about life
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Lol, It’s a normal something. Sometimes I even ask myself why I had to bring what caused the whole lecture up.
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Lool
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All the issues you outlined here are part of the problems we are faced with as a nation. You never become an adult in a Nigerian home even when you’re 30 so long as you live with them, you’re expected to obey orders without having your opinion. It’s almost like your opinion doesn’t count except theirs which they forcefully down on you.
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Your’re right. There was I didn’t let my Dad have his way and he said ‘You’re so smart now, you don’t need us to direct you’. They always think they know it all and we know nothing!
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My parents have always been the type to allow freedom of choice though.
Until now that all my father wants is for me to marry 🙄
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Aren’t you just lucky! The marriage this is so normal now lol
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SMH
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You’ve said it all, and you,re very correct. There are factors that make parents act in such way. Parents/guardians have to really study the gifts embedded in their children/wards, and lead them in such directions. This is a great post!
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”Parents/guardians have to really study the gifts embedded in their children/wards, and lead them in such directions” Spot on! A lot of parents need to see this.
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Great! I love the write-up, it treats one of the present “Decadence’s” in pur society.
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I enjoyed reading this. My parents are super conservative and I am to some extent but sometimes you just wanna chill and next thing is you’re lazy, you miss one church service and then you’re the devil. They’re starting to realize it’s my life and at the end of the day I’m going to live it how I want to. It’s not helping that I’m the last child and the only one left at home.
– Tosin (www.lifewithtwotees.com)
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I can completely relate to this. I’m the last child too and I have a rebellious sister so maybe they want to get it all right with me 🤷🏾♀️. They’re starting to ease up a little though, thank God for that
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So interesting the different cultural values. Nevertheless, family values are the threshold for a good, strong nation.
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You’re definitely right 😊
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Aye, fellow Nigerian blogger. lemme follow you ☺️
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Thanks love. I’ll follow you right back
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Very true a post but unfortunately, this Nigerian parents character is recurring and hereditary.
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I hope we can do it differently when it’s out time
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It’s sad especially from the mums to their daughters. It’s like they don’t trust you or trust the training they have given you. They want to protect you but sometimes they end up of suffocating you and you never really discover who you are. A lot of teenage depression is attributed to this, not just in Nigeria but all over the world.
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Spot on! Sometimes when I hear my friends complain about the things their mums think of them, I can literally see the pain in their eyes. And they end their statement with “they don’t know what they have”
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So true and sometimes it ends up driving the kids to be the kind of people their parents are so scared of them becoming.
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The problem is that they feel they are the only ones that can make the best decisions and you are not wise or old enough to know what you want.
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You’re right. It’s so bad that they can’t even admit or apologise when they’re wrong
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Pride! On top of that, they claim to be Christians 👀
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I can completely relate to parents that like to compare you to friends. When I was younger, it gave me the incentive to try harder, or be the best, but now that I’m older, I can’t be bothered!
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Lol I wish they knew this comparison thing doesn’t do much good
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