How Grandma Turned Discipline Into a Bonding Experience
A young mother’s reflections on a mischievous summer day
Lately, as a mother, I’ve found myself reflecting more and more on a particular day from my childhood.
I must have been around 6 to 8 years old.
It was on a summer night during our school break. We were spending vacations with our grandparents. Those were always the days filled with fun adventures, and we often got ourselves into a bit of trouble.
One afternoon, we decided to sneak out of the house to swim while our grandmother went to church for an event. We didn’t ask her because we were going to the river where she had warned us not to swim. As the late Queen Mother of our village, she was always wrapped up in some community activity. We thought we would have enough time for a quick swim and get back before her.
As soon as she had left, my sisters quickly put on shoes and put a change of clothes for everyone in a little bag. While they were waiting outside for our brothers and me to put on shoes, they started swinging the bag around. Shoes on, I walked out the door to discover the bag had landed on the roof.
That should’ve been a sign to call it quits right then, but nope, we were determined.
