Parents vs Results

There was a time when I checked my results and I thought I performed like, excellently well. So I showed my father the result. What did he tell me? “Don’t be complacent”. I was expecting praise or something, but I got a lecture on complacency and the way it affects people’s work. Parents.

Its funny really, I don’t think a Nigerian parent can actually ever be satisfied when it comes to academic work. Honestly no matter how well you do there is always something they point out that needs improvement. I’ll give instances:

Say you get an average of 94(which is a super high average) , but come third, they become curious as to the number of heads those that came second and first have. Or they query you on the level on how different they are, or how much better they are than you. (Like I’m supposed to know that).

Or if you do come first, but with an average of say, 88 (still high), they will begin to question you on the whereabouts of the remaining `12 marks. “You came first yes, but look at your average, what happened to the remaining marks?” As if they were misplaced and I could just find them under my bed or in the cupboard.

They act as if all the blood, sweat and tears put into attaining those results is beans. These people that will claim to have gotten and I quote ‘A parallel’, but when faced with a simple arithmetic equation will start making excuses. And oh my gosh, the kind of threats you receive concerning your performance in school, you know it’s either good results or your life.

I never really understood this as a child, but now I do. As parents, they feel the need to push you to aim higher and to not just be comfortable where you are. Even though it seems like they are giving little recognition to our achievements, we all know once they are in the midst of friends it all they want to talk about. They will use our success as stories in a bid to outdo each other’s boasts.

I know I’m not the only one that can relate to this, it’s like a major tribulation faced as a kid under a Nigerian roof. Now I don’t mean this as a slam to parents, at all. In fact I think its good motivation (no matter how annoying it can be).

So there you go, that’s how I feel about parents and results.