WHEN WE WERE YOUNG(2)

Hello! Welcome again!
After my friend, Mesuur's suggestion (that inspired this post-https://brownrings.blogspot.com/2019/10/when-we-were-young1.html), Gbenga's suggestion came. Gbenga and I met on LinkedIn when I was newly out of NYSC, and I was practically panicking because I didn't want to be unemployed. One day, I'll write about my job search after NYSC, the jobs that I worked/ work and the stories that came/come with them. Gbenga has a "peculiar" surname, and when I asked what it means, he sent me a recorded call with his Father explaining the name.
So, Gbenga told me a short story of his childhood, when they'd sweep at home and his dad would say to ensure to dispose of the dirt properly otherwise, bad luck will follow. I laughed at his suggestion, but it made me think about a lot of things.
First, I realize that a lot of fables were told to achieve a moral endpoint even if they lacked any sense were fallacious, and of course, some were outright jargon. I grew in a Yoruba dominated community and while my Parents were hardly superstitious; I had schoolmates, friends and teachers that I learned those fables from. For example, there's the one of not dragging a stick on the sand while you walked, it meant your mother's breast was going to end up saggy, we already know what category this fable belongs to, as we read. I mean, eventually, what goes up must definitely come down. There's the one that readily comes to mind as I type.
 In Elementary school, I and my Older Sister usually stayed at my Aunt's place with our cousins after school, till my mom got back from work. My Aunt would always tell us that picking up and eating any food item that had fallen off our hands to the ground would cause us to develop swollen cheeks. If you know me, you're probably giggling already because I have (always had) large cheeks. One day after school, I can't remember what food item it was particularly, but I remember it fell, and I could not let it be, so I picked it up and ate. My Sister who sat beside me screamed with terror, I cried too. My Aunt came and laughed, insisting that I'd have swollen cheeks, as I had disobeyed. You can tell I picked nothing off the ground to eat again. Thinking about it now, the point was to ensure kids didn't pick up germs and infections off the ground, but they had to be dramatic about it so we'd understand.
My Friend, Gbenga's Father, was likely trying to engender cleanliness but had to follow the African manual, so he said the kids would have bad luck if they didn't dispose of dirt properly.
   Someone once said that left to this present generation, many things that our parents and older ones held dear would be all lost, and I sometimes agree, I certainly would not tell my kids that they'd have leprosy if they took meat from my pot. I do NOT discredit our older generation and their method, but I believe there were better routes that could have been followed, in certain instances.
My mom says to me sometimes that, "I did this, so my kids would do it better or wouldn't have to do it at all." I agree with her, and I think she did well too.
  So, dear reader, were there fables and myths that came to your mind while you read? Do you think they were efficient enough? If you decide to have kids, in parenting, will you apply the same methods you grew with or similar? Please let me know in the comments section.

If you're still reading by now, as always, I'd say thank you for reading, I value you visit every post that I make. Till the next post, don't stop giving your best to the things and people that you value.

Have a great weekend!