Parents are our first of many things, advisers, teachers, cook, doctor and so much more, they are like a second god to us after our creator, and in them, we trust and put our all, which reminds me of an advert I watched as a child, of how a child climbed up the roof of their house and was scared to jump down, but his father insisted for him to jump he will be there to catch him, them he asked his father "can I trust you?" he replied, "of course you can, I AM YOUR FATHER" who wouldn't melt at that statement? The boy jumped, but unfortunately, his father moved and didn't catch him as promised, so he broke his leg, his father laughed and told him, that was his very first life lesson, to never trust anyone, not even his father but himself alone, this advert use to get me thinking critically as a child, does it mean my dad or mum can be wrong sometimes, the very people I look up to and fully depend on, of course as a child, there was little or nothing I could do concerning that thought, my parent was always right and if I tried to go against them, it would be counted as disobedient.
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As an adult, I'm wiser now and can make my own choices as I'm the only one responsible for any action I take, so it is dependent on me to know when to make the right choice for myself, it is very important to note that parent's advice is most deep-rooted out of a place of care and love, that they don't sometimes take our feeling into consideration, yes, my parents advice has brought me far, till date, as I still take advice from them, and there are some times I know it won't work for me.
The Good advice
I have shared my story numerous times on how I began my journey into fashion designing, but what I haven't placed much emphasis on is the fact that my mum was the one who initially advised me to learn a skill and she was precise about it being fashion designing even though I had no interest to learn any skill then, and today, I'm glad I heeded to that advise because fashion designing has been more than a skill to me, it is therapeutic, and has helped clear my head from depression numerous times, and it has also served as a good source of income to me likewise, I don't know what she saw in me then that brought about the advise, I guess the saying that an elder sees far than a child seems to be true.
The not-so-good advice
It was my sophomore year in the university, I had returned home for the holiday, looking radiant, you know that peak of puberty, where the glow is top-notch and as a lady, you are bound to be very attractive, I was 19 years of age, I knew within me that I was eye-catching because of the attention I attracted, I didn't let it get to my head though and wasn't ready for any sort of romantic relationship even though some guys pleaded with me to be their girlfriend.
One evening, I was sitted in my dad's sitting room when a young guy came alongside his mum and dad to ask for my hand in marriage, it was surprising to me because I knew him from afar, his parent lived in the same community and it seems he had traveled out of the country for a while because he was absent for some few years, my parent called me aside and asked if I already had a boyfriend and didn't inform them before they come, I explained to them how shocked I was too and wasn't interested, they listened to me and rejected the offer of the young man and his parent, but they kept on coming every weekend hoping my parent would change their mind, and promising that their son would take over my education expenses and would take me out of the country to live with him after my first child, as I would stay with his parent after marriage, it was all sounding funny to me especially when my mum was begining to buy into their idea after numerous promises and their display of wealth, but I stood on my stance and rejected the advise, its funny because It was the same year I became friends with my husband, and he knew about it, he hadn't expressed his feelings for me then, after many rejections, the guy became violent and threatened to deal with me for rejecting him. About 5 years back, news reached his parents that he had been arrested in Qatar for drug trafficking, alongside his family, his parent was left devastated and was too ashamed to come outside of their compound, as for me, I'm happy I didn't let the display of ill-gotten wealth get to me to marry the wrong person, even after my mum advised at sine point, I got married to the right person at the right time, out of love and not greed, and don't have to suffer a lifetime in jail or possibly death sentence like the rumor spreading round about the young man.