Drama At The Bookshop 2

So the woman kept on shouting, it was very obvious she was frustrated, she did not want to start the new year with debt.

She kept on repeating this statement in Yoruba

Interpreted as "Don't try nonsense with me in this new year"

But something caught my attention, the guy was not bothered, he was just smiling and giving a subtle denial to the woman's claim, and with the way he responded, it looked as if he has been taking money from that purse before, but who am I to judge? I dare not call him a thief, eventually she was able to get me my money through other means. I had to leave to avoid further drama.

I left the shop, but there were so many thoughts that filled my mind when I was going back to the hostel? Was the boy guilty? Should the woman have started such discussion in front of me? There were many questions and I had to make a lot of deductions from the story.

As regards the reactions of the woman, I understand that the theft touched the deep parts of her emotions, but she should not have reacted that way in my presence, she probably does not know the gravity of what she did. She had just successfully discredited the integrity of the boy, peradventure if I'm in a position to offer the guy an opportunity in the nearest future, I may want to doubt his integrity and not consider him at all , although at that time, he might have repented. Never expose the weaknesses of your loved ones in front of strangers.

Another thing worthy to note on the reaction of that woman was the manner of approach. I considered it too sharp, although I wouldn't know if she had been using some other approach before ,and now she had run out of patience and decided to try the violent way.

I would have preferred she asked him in a calm way, nobody likes to be called a thief even when they're guilty. One thing parents should avoid doing is confronting their kids directly, instead use what I call the serpentine approach.Even if you're not yet a parent,you need it when you want to handle your kids in the nearest future, so don't ignore this knowledge.

What do I call the serpentine approach?

A serpent never moves in a straight line ,if it's going to point A, it moves through D to B to C and then finally to A. 

That's how to approach young people on issues like this. Distract them with so many matters, make them feel at home, be friendly, then go to the main point . At that point, they'll love to open up to you and at that time, you can easily correct them in love. As it stands today, many children can't open up to their parents on so many issues.

And lastly on the reaction of the woman, she had concluded too soon. One thing parents or would be parents should avoid is sudden conclusion. Even if the guy had the track record of taking money without the necessary permission, he might not have been responsible for the loss of money that day, he might have repented . Who knows?her imaginations may be playing out on her too.

What if the lad in question was guilty? Of course,the economy of the nation isn't smiling, if he had truly done that, then he's hurting the woman badly. 

One of the secret to the greatest blessings on earth is to avoid hurting your parents, instead make them happy all the time. 

Have you not been hurting your parents?

Although, yours may not be in form of this, nothing hurts a parent more than disobedience.

I understand that your parents may not always be right, in that case, respectfully correct them,and when they don't listen, be silent and walk away. Most issues in families would have been avoided if the other party had kept quiet.

And a major fact is this, every parent has what makes them happy, have you been able to discover what makes your parents happy? If you've not discovered it, I'll advise that you do that as soon as possible. It may be anything. As a student, ordinary airtime can bring smiles to the face of your parents.

You prosper more with your parents blessings. You can't ignore that fact.

Although, the suggestions made here may not be satisfiable all through, pick the ones that pertain to you, work on it and come back to give me the news of how things are working well.

Other contributions and corrections are also welcome in the comments box, do well to drop them before you leave, join the exciting conversation.  I would love to read them all.