"SEC - S12W1: A Bedtime Story: A Stubborn Child

There is no better way to transmit moral lessons to the younger generations than through story telling. Kids' sometimes find it difficult to sleep at night but stories help them to sleep.

The lessons learned from bedtime stories can not be easily forgotten as they keep the kids thinking and even dreaming about what they have learned.

In an African setting, kids are gathered at moonlight while a grandparent tells bedtime stories. It is usually under a tree in the compound when the moon is at its peak or at other times. It is usually told after the dinner is taken and even the kids in the neighborhood come out for these stories.

Sometimes ago, it became a radio program and TV program as well. The program starts by 8pm and kids gather to listen.

As soon as the story and the lessons are learned, everyone will go straight to bed and sleep. The kids are usually eager to listen and they even try to finish up their chores early enough to be able to sit to listen.

This contest has just reminded me of one of those stories that my mother told me when I was a child. It is a story that is filled with meaning and great lessons and it keeps the kids alert to what is happening in their surroundings.

It is now story time dear friends. This time around, I will like adults to also listen to this story. Please @eliany @ruthjoe and @mesola, come and read this story so that you can tell your kids at bedtime. You can as well tell yours as an entry to this contest so that I can listen and learn as well as pass it on to my kids.

Story of astubborn child and the result of his actions

Once upon a time, there lived a family in a community known as Ndi Ebe Abam. This family is a large one because they have 12 kids. Each of these kids has different characteristics but the parents tried hard to train them up, teaching them good moral values.

But especially, in the area of helping them to stay alert to what is happening in their environment.

This community has always been in constant fights with the neighboring villages over boundary issues. This disagreement escalated to killings and kidnappings.

The people of Ndi Ebe Abam are mostly peasant farmers of which this large family is part of and they were able to survive with it.

Their kids are also helpful when it comes to assisting the parents in the farm and they are also hardworking.

The villagers are in constant fear as a result of the dispute with the neighboring villages. From time to time, the news of a missing child or parent keeps flying and it was going round the families in that community.

As for this large family, they were lucky to be safe due to the signs that the parents mastered along with the kids.

However, one of their kids is very stubborn and disobedient. The parents kept trying their best to help him change but to no avail.

With regard to the threat of life that is happening to other families in the community, this family called the kids together one fateful evening and reminded the kids of the sign that they will always give them when they sense any danger. And once the parents gived them this sign, they are expected to find a way to go out of the scene.

This sign is peculiar, when the parents use it to signal the kids, they can pretend to send them on an errand and the kids will not come back.

One fateful day, this family got ready in the morning and went to the farm as usual. Before long, 2 strangers came to the farm and met them there. The parents quickly recognized that these were killers but those men were pretending to be friendly.

So, out of wisdom, the parents decided to offer them something to eat from what they went to the farm with. As these men were eating, the parents started giving the kids the signs they had already told them.

They called on one child and pretended to send him on errand and gave the sign that means that he shouldn't come back to the farm again. That one recognized and quickly went out, never to come back. Then after a while, the parents said, who knows what might have happened to our child? Hmmm, with that, they called on the next child, giving the sign and sent him to go and find out what is holding the first child.

They continued that way until it was remaining the disobedient child. They gave that one the same sign but he nearly exposed the parents trick and he wouldn't go out at all, out of disrespect. Well, the parents decided to go out one by one to go check on their children. At last, the disobedient child was left with the men and when they waited for those ones and they were not forth coming, they killed the disobedient child and hung the intestines all over the farm.

The next day, when the parents went back to the farm, they discovered that their disobedient child had been killed. It wasn't funny to them but they used it as a lesson to the other kids who were now happy that they were obedient to their parents.

Moral lessons

Obedience saves life.

It.is good to listen to instructions.

It's good to pay attention and be observant to what is happening in our surroundings.

Prepare for emergencies, training our kids on how to react considering our environment.

Conclusion

Stories are powerful. They provide mental pictures that are indelibly written on the minds of the listeners. They are also means of transmitting moral lessons and they help the listeners to sleep well. Thank you all for reading through. Hope you enjoyed the story?