You arent being Rational at all.

Gamine:

You arent being Rational at all.

A 12 year old is a kid. There is nothing to be rational about here.

At the age of 12, I could barely clean up after myslef let alone clean up after others.

Esss:

A 12 year old is a kid. There is nothing to be rational about here.

At the age of 12, I could barely clean up after myslef let alone clean up after others.

i have to agree with Esss on this one. a child that is a maid is just a sugar coated word for slave.

Gamine:

I just knew the pack would get here

They are sending the boy to school, can't u people read!

he is not a slave, haba!

Pls tell me its Covenant University they are planning to send the kid and i will forever remain silent.

So what is wrong with a 12 yr old sweeping?
or running errands?

i dont get it.

The boy is going to go to school and will just basically help around the house.

i dont see what the marra is

and your arguments can never justify his stealing ways

@David,
LOL

@ gamine

you are not seeing the point here. a child should be doing what 12 years old do. not at your house sweeping up the mess you made. what is the dignity in that?? how could you sit and watch a 12 year old bending over to sweep the rice that you let slip of your plate?? please enlighten me.

Gamine you and who are you calling "pack"?

Further more you are not blind the poster clearly states that he does not like paper and biro but they will "force" him to go to school after the summer.

Im sorry what kid has a right to say no to education?

He is 12 no ifs or buts. Why not admit you dont send him to school?

Who is trying to defend him stealing here?

Oshi

Calling me names will never render you credible.

@Oyinye

What is it that 12yr olds do?

last i checked, they went to school and worked in the house.

When i was twelve i did more than sweep and run errands.

onyinye2:

@ gamine

you are not seeing the point here. a child should be doing what 12 years old do. not at your house sweeping up the mess you made. what is the dignity in that?? how could you sit and watch a 12 year old bending over to sweep the rice that you let slip of your plate?? please enlighten me.

Onyinye don't forget that you grew up in Nigeria where things like child labor are not considered awkward.

Gamine:

The boy is going to go to school and will just basically help around the house.

i don't see what the marra is

that's the trick our parents used to get the kids to stay forever taking the indirect abuse. What "school" is the kid going? I lived with a family with a housegirl once . . . the child was going to "school" and yet could not even read her english textbook . . .

A tiny girl washing oga's coats and jeans haba! Even me sef i used to duck out of the house to avoid spending hrs at night when everyone had slept ironing clothes for 3 months in advance . . . that was madam's idea of the girl "basically helping around the house".

That one is abuse o whether you see the marra or not. You spend your time wrapped in your own little world of private schools, drivers, vacations abroad every summer, good clothes . . . and then turn around saying a poor child is only "helping around the house".

You people sef . . . maybe slave trade should start again so u can "understand what the marra is".

LadyT:


Who is trying to defend him stealing here?

Oshi

I am o!!

When I was 12, my God I was a little crook.
I stole like a rat. _{Meat from the pot of stew, milk, milo, 5 naira for choco milo and goody goody kind of stealing}

Thats what 12 year olds do. And mind you I was no houseboy, it was my dads house, my dads meat, my dads milk. Now imagine a 12 year old boy in another mans house, where he has basically no rights to take nothing.

CH3COO:

Onyinye don't forget that you grew up in Nigeria where things like child labor are not considered awkward.

i actually i grew up in the states and yes, child labor is very awkward and down right strange.

LOL.

LOL.

a we!

We have had helps and they went to school.
There is no one that has been a part of my household
that would ever come to miss yan.

i dont believe in slave trade or child labour
thats why i mentioned schooling.

The reason for the post was the boy steals
are you trying to justify it or something

You ppl are lucky

and here I was afraid of stealing or risk hours of kneeling down and rasing my hands up after some painful beatings.

lucky children! You were allowed to steal when u were just a kid.

Btw, I bet you also lied about not stealing.

Gamine . . . u have 4 sisters and still needed house maids?  
Naija children are spoiled.

Four young girls with a working mum, no dad

ofcos we needed help!

i wonder where you got that info sef

Gamine:

Four young girls with a working mum, no dad

ofcos we needed help!

i wonder where you got that info sef

well im going to go out on a lim and say this. well i understand that you are in nigeria with out a father, but in the states, my teenagers also have no father and a working mother, but they still keep the house in order. and what were you and your siblings doing, while you house maid was cleaning??

Gamine:

Four young girls with a working mum, no dad

ofcos we needed help!

i wonder where you got that info sef

_{i dont forget what i come across easily}  

You have no excuse, 4 girls and a working mum = 5 females in a house that cant be as big as Aso Rock. What's new?
Mine was 3 boys and a working mum = no maid by the time we were 8-10 yrs and a very clean house even though it was achieved by much grumbling.

What on earth did you need "help" for? Doing dishes, scrubbing floors, ironing, cooking your own food?  
Spoilt children!  

Wait, did you send the maids to covenant University too? They deserve "total man" treatment too isnt it?

They needed help too lazy to pick up after themselves.

LOL.

So we were between the ages of 1 and 10.

We worked around the house of course,

but when there was an opportunity to help someone else

my mum definately had to take it.

and the Help was in Sec Sch.

Gamine:

LOL.

So we were between the ages of 1 and 10.

We worked around the house of course,

but when there was an opportunity to help someone else

my mum definately had to take it.

and the Help was in Sec Sch.

as i said before, i have teenagers who are younger than you were at the time and still held it down with out any help. it seems that you guys took advantage of the situation. i guess i feel this way because in the states, this is ILLEGAL.

Gold*Finch:

You people are lucky

and here I was afraid of stealing or risk hours of kneeling down and rasing my hands up after some painful beatings.

lucky children! You were allowed to steal when u were just a kid.

Btw, I bet you also lied about not stealing.

Lets be serious here, if I was allowed, then it is no longer stealing now is it?? A child steals simply because he has been told he cant have it. Imagine that village boy, now in the midst of plenty and yet still has nothing. Simple psychology.

My point is simple, a child is a child.
A 12 year old, is a child.
School is no excuse for child abuse.
This is africa, No this is Nigeria. Every houseboy goes to school. But how come you never went to the same kind of schools your houseslaves attended??
No matter how much we try to sugar coat it, he is still being enslaved.
As a 12 year old, I hated doing chores of any kind. All chores were done against my will.

The poster is obviously old enough, why dosent she do those chores herself and collect whatever it is that the boy is being paid.

@Oyinye.

The Help in question was a relation.

Came to stay with us, while she went to school.

We saw her as Aunty not Housemaid.

We werent brought up that way.

She actually went to a school my mum taught in.

oh well, i guess people will just take things the way they wanna. . .

@Esss
Wateva really, you cannot justify stealing

Gamine swear to me that you never stole nothing in your entire life.

@gamine

what ever you say gurlie. personally i think yal could have held it down without your "aunty" but hey that is just me and my life experiences.

@Oyinye

yeah, we could have "held" it down

@Ess

ofcos i stole, Evaporated peak milk was my specialty

and baby food

Lets be serious here, if I was allowed, then it is no longer stealing now is it?? A child steals simply because he has been told he can't have it. Imagine that village boy, now in the midst of plenty and yet still has nothing. Simple psychology.

My point is simple, a child is a child.
A 12 year old, is a child.
School is no excuse for child abuse.
This is africa, No this is Nigeria. Every houseboy goes to school. But how come you never went to the same kind of schools your houseslaves attended??
No matter how much we try to sugar coat it, he is still being enslaved.
As a 12 year old, I hated doing chores of any kind. All chores were done against my will.

The poster is obviously old enough, why dosent she do those chores herself and collect whatever it is that the boy is being paid.

Ok, my bad,but being a nice person, I was trying to use a nicer word.
Ok, so your parents did not "teach" you the wrongs of stealing.


When I was 12, I had no reason to steal. My mom thought me that I should not always get angry if I don't get all the things I want. Which most of the time, I did get most of the things I wanted

But seriously, at 12, the fear of the consequence of stealing was instilled in me.

On the other part, I do agree with you about about the child's enslavement.
At 12, the child should be allowed to be a child not a "man" in a boy's body.
As LadyT said, how can the child change when he's being treated like a paid "servant" instead of a loved child.
Of course he'll continue to do. . . . I mean, the poster herself said flogging won't work.
The only alternative is to show the child love and he'll be ready to learn the wrong in stealing.
The kid is being a kid, he's being rebellious.

But, stealing is still wrong sha.


The only reason gamine is not seeing reason and being a spoilt brat is because she grew up with a maid, therefore she sees no wrong in it.

Na me wey bring maid?

Name-calling once again lends you no credibility.

HOUSE BOY/GIRLS below the age of 18years are slaves period.

There is a law against this kind of slavery in the country, but in Nigeria anything goes. Aunty my foot. Some house girls are called aunty o!! Dont try to decieve us. And also most atimes, househelps are normally your kinsmen or relatives.

I think all househelps should form a union and start charging at least 20,000 naira a month for their services and this non sense will surely stop.

Gamine:

@Oyinye

yeah, we could have "held" it down

i just think if yall held it down yall' self, it would have made you guys stronger. that is what i have noticed with families with out a father and a working mother. but it could also made you weaker so, i guess this topic has both sides to consider.