Parental Guidance Pt 2

I was going to say 'Parents in general' but that might be taking it a bit too far. Plus it's basically not true. For the most part, Nigerians love their parents. They work hard to please them when they're young and even harder to take care of them when they are old. Nope, no nursing homes for us. And not just because there are no good ones but because it's not part of our culture. We're family people. So what's the problem you ask? That's just it. We're family people. I'm not sure {older generation} Nigerians understand the concept of individualism. I understand that parents want the best for their kids but seriously, there are many different ways to go about achieving this best. The typical obedient unrebellious Nigerian child sits balefully at his or her desk day after day pondering questions such as the following:

Why can't I do it our way? Why must it be yours?

Why is your view of success so painfully twisted? I do not have to be a doctor/lawyer/engineer to be successful so why are you making me become one?

Why should I study Physics when my passion is writing? And why do you get mad when I do not do well as you'd like when you know that that's not where my strengths lie?

Why must I call Uncle so and so when it is very apparent to us all that we do not like each other? Why can't I just save myself the pain {and minutes} and spend what would be five excruciatingly painful minutes being otherwise occupied?

Why oh why oh why?

I don't want to hear about Chief somebody somebody's child who went and studied {gasp} human services or classical studies or another such major, wasted their parents money, gave them a bunch of grief and is currently unemployed...Hell, I'm happy for them because at least they're happy.

I {The Typical Subservient Nigerian Child} on the other hand am not. And I will not be until you get off my case and let me do exactly what it is that I want to do with my life. No, you cannot live through me, make up for your past mistakes through me or use me as a trophy to show off to your friends. If you can't be proud of me for who I want to be then quite frankly you suck.

I am fortunate enough to have two brilliant self-employed creatives as parents who believe that for the most part I should be able to do whatever I want {within reason} which is why I'm only half and not fully crazy. Others are not so fortunate. I plan to take it a little further with my children and let them make a couple more decisions for themselves...Not to say that I'll let them run wild but you get my point...because quite frankly, at the best of times, a Nigerian household run by parents whose views of success are painfully narrow, is not the best place to live.
I would rather watch The Teletubbies re-runs in slow mo for the rest of my life than live for someone who quite frankly is going to die sooner rather than later.