It was past 6 Am, and Anita already dressed for school stood by the window looking outside. It was her first time seeing snow. It was on TV last night that it would snow all night but she didn’t know what to make of the white substance all over the street. She could see that the door-mouth and the walk have been cleared. Every other car except theirs are covered with snow – She knew her dad must be the one who cleaned off the snow from their car and doorway. “That’s why I love daddy more,” she thought.
The street light made the snow glitter here and there. Daddy hurry, I don’t want to be late for school. She couldn’t wait to touch the snow and see what it feels like.
A burst of wind shook the trees and blew the dust of snow from the neighbor’s car.
Food is ready!! – her mum called from behind her – She knew her dad would be down soon. She took her seat at the dining table as her mum placed the meals on the table.
Dad came down all dressed in his all-white navy uniform and led prayers and Anita began shoveling her food into her mouth even before he was done.
She wanted to be done with her meal as quickly as possible in the hopes that she could sneak outside and get a feel of the snow before daddy comes out – because her dad is also a quick eater.
She looked at her little brother who was taking his time to eat and wondered if he knew it snowed.
In her quest to finish her meal on time, Anita didn’t know that she was shoveling her food rapidly into her mouth spoon after spoon, and was chewing so fast that everyone at the dining table could hear her chewing noise.
Mummy cautioned her the first time and she took it slowly for a couple of seconds and was back at it again. The second caution was a stern look from mummy and the third came from daddy but Anita was determined to see the bottom of her plate and kept on digging and made sure her mouth was full, spoon after spoon.
Mummy had gotten fed up with repeating herself, pulled her daughter over and reached for the cane on the table behind her, and went to work on Anita’s back and behind.
Dad went on eating like nothing was happening while Anita was screaming like a banshee as the cane landed on her backside.
“Shut your mouth or you won’t be going to school today,” mummy said.
“No mummy, I want to go to school” Anita replied wiping tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. She knew she wouldn’t be allowed to step outside if she didn’t go to school. The thought of not being able to touch the snow was what made her stop crying immediately.
It was dad’s duty to drop the kids at school every morning and pick them up on his way back.
Dad is a Nigerian Navy Captain and was on a training course at the US Military training facility in Rhode Island. The same training facility that all Nigerian Chief of Naval Staff attended. Anita’s dad is in line to be Chief of Naval Staff.
The crunching sound of the snow underneath Anita’s feet made her smile. She scooped a handful, pressed it together, and tossed it at her little brother who was himself excited. She winked at him to signal that they will be having a swell time after school.
Dad kissed both kids in front of their school before zooming off to the Military base.
He got to the base and was parking the car when his phone rang. It was his wife asking him to come back to the children’s school. He knew it must be an emergency so he didn’t bother asking questions. She is not in the habit of going to the children’s school to call him.
His wife and daughter and a lady he knew as the school principal and another lady who introduced herself and said she was from children’s welfare were in the principal’s office. The door opened and a couple of Police officers entered the not-so-spacious office.
His wife who wasn’t sure of what to say signaled the principal with her hands as if to say, “why are we all here?”
The principal pulled Anita over and began explaining to everyone in the room how she discovered cane marks on Anita’s little back. The police officers went closer and inspected the marks.
Police: Sir did you do this to the little girl?
Dad: You mean my daughter?
Police Officer 2: Well, yes your daughter but that is not what we are talking about now. Did you do this to her?
Dad: No – her mum did – as she should have done.
Police: This is not acceptable here. It is a crime to do this to a child.
Dad: You mean it is not acceptable for an American – My child is not an American. She is Nigerian and is raised like one.
Police Officer: You are not in Nigeria sir. We have our laws and this is not acceptable here.
Dad: With respect officer, you don’t tell me how to raise my child… It is not your business. She deserves what she got for misbehaving. She will be treated in the same manner if she misbehaves again.
Police: With all due respect sir, you are an officer and should know better. We will have no option but to deal with this appropriately if there is a reoccurrence.
Dad: meaning what? What does that mean?
Police: What I am saying is, we will treat it according to the laws of the United States.
Child Welfare: What he is saying is, we may have to take the child away for her safety.
Anita’s Mum: You must be joking right? Take my child away? To where? For what? Because she was beaten for bad behavior? You must be out of your senses madam.
Police: Easy ma’am, we are simply asking you to be careful with your child and the body marks. And yes she is correct. We will have no other option than to act. and that can include taking the child away for her safety.
Dad: No officer, you will not touch my child. Like I already told you, she is not American and that is that. And with all due respect to you officers and madam Principal and Welfare officer, I am in training and have to go back to the base.
There is a saying that “American kids spoiled before food did” – Whether you like it said or not, spoiled children are a pandemic in America. It has become a thing that American parents are afraid of angering their children so much that they have refused to help themselves.
The woods are dangerous. The cold is dangerous. – but the child faces no repercussions for entering the woods or cold anyway.
“I don’t know about others but my child is rotten beyond redemption,” a parent said to me. She won’t even speak to me anymore. I am permanently blocked on all her social media accounts. There was a day she asked me for a thousand dollars and said if I don’t give her, I will be dead to her. This child has caused me everything including mental stress.
Some say it is a cultural thing that the American child says “hey” instead of “good morning sir or ma’am” – I think it is disrespectful for a kid about my child’s age to say “hey” to me no matter the circumstance.
Americans live in a big bubble flanked on both sides by oceans and Mexico on one side while Canada is over at the top… Americans speak one language and can live comfortably without leaving their country – as a result, are blissfully ignorant of the life and perspective of those outside America. A reason why the American government will blame everyone in Mexico including the hens and the goats for the fentanyl epidemic in America. But the American child that loves and can’t do without fentanyl is kept off the hook. No blame whatsoever.
What the American government is failing to accept is, even if they succeed in stopping the drug flow into America, the American children themselves will go to the fentanyl no matter where it is.
Drug cartels will sell their drugs wherever they find buyers. They will love to sell in places like Ghana and Kenya but why they aren’t is obvious – Kenyan and Ghanaian kids don’t consume drugs on the scale of American kids.
The American child can do no wrong in their parents’ eyes. He hits someone on the head with a sledgehammer, it is not his fault. Bully a classmate in school, “not his fault”. Drove into the neighbor’s lawn, “it is not his fault, the neighbors are too sensitive”.
Do you think the American child is woefully spoiled compared to children in other countries? Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.
