Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 25oC, warmish, sunny, and slightly overcast.
Monday is the beginning of the week, and things are beginning to show light, a new start. The day began well with exercise early, a coffee on the way home, and classes the whole day, nothing new nor remarkable.
I had not slept well the night before because I had noticed that Yasmin had decided to study only late on Sunday evening. The entire day, she had been amusing herself with her tablet and cell phone with no voluntary responsibility to do what was correct regarding her studies.
I have also noticed that if I let her, she will stay home the whole day, in the dark, without going out or feeling the importance of going outdoors. Yasmin will soon be sixteen; as a father, I must try to change this situation before it is too late. She needs to realise the significance of education and have a genuine interest in learning.
It’s crucial for her academic future to be proactive and take initiative. She should also maintain physical fitness by being willing to walk and take care of herself with confidence and pride.
I have come to the conclusion that my youngest daughter is not putting in much effort and is only doing the bare minimum.As for my eldest daughter, she is overweight, and I believe it is due to a lack of discipline when it comes to physical exercise. However, I have noticed a change that, hopefully, she will continue and not stop.
As I have stated before, from a very young age, I would play in the street and the fields near where I lived, walking three, four or even five kilometres daily as time would be nothing for me. If Yasmin walks five hundred metres, she is complaining.
I am trying to say that there is no room in life for laziness, especially when you are young and have the rest of your life ahead of you. You need to take advantage of every second, minute and hour of every day without the impoverished mentality that life owes us something.
We must go out into the world and fight for what we want like anybody else, as everybody else who wants something knows that only through sacrifice, hard work, determination, focus and discipline.
Nothing falls from the sky into our laps; we have to fight for it; there is no room in life for victims and victimisation. Victims usually end up at the back of the queue, feeling sorry for themselves whilst waiting for someone to give them an easy ride.
My father abandoned me and my brother when we were still relatively young, so there was no real father figure to give us direction in our adolescence. This is what I have been trying to do with both Yasmin and Jessica. More so, Yasmin, as Jessica is now an adult, and whatever she needs as her father, I am near. So, I have decided two things Yasmin must do before her ear is pierced for her birthday in June.
When Yasmin arrived home from school at about 2 pm, I immediately told her I wanted to talk. Whenever I say this to my daughters, they automatically become apprehensive and concerned. We sat in the living room, and I explained that I was worried about her and some aspects of her life.
I told her that life is a two-way street and that I would not pay for her piercing until two conditions had been met.
- First, I only want her to use her cell phone or tablet for personal and leisure use only after seven in the evening. It could be earlier, but I thought seven pm was a reasonable hour.
- Second, she would have to enrol in a gym or fitness school at the beach and lose some weight.
I don’t think these proposals or conditions were radical or unfair; they were just what needed to be done for her to get used to looking after her own mind and body.
Her first reaction was shock, denial and aggressivity. I know many women who believe that the best form of defence is to attack, and that is precisely what she did. Then she cried, and later in the evening, she returned to aggression.
Her mother sometimes has good intentions but lacks execution and focus. I have done what her mother could not do by setting limits and conditions for Yasmin’s improvement. I think I have done the right thing, but only time will tell, so let’s see what will happen.
I also do not want in the future to have a heavy conscience thinking about what I should have done in the past and did not do and why not. I have also concluded that life is full of small emotional earthquakes, and if there are no earthquakes, then you are dead.
Our lives are certainly not perfect, and the societies we live in are certainly not perfect, too, so we must make and cause ripples in the water of our lives to make changes or stop bad habits recurring repeatedly that we continually commit for our lives to go ahead.
Now, I am the villain at home. I have been living with Nalva and Yasmin for almost two weeks, and I am already trying to change everything which I think is wrong. The fight is on!!! The flat is cleaner and more organised, the accounts and bills are up to date, and my daughter needs to grow up and assume more responsibility.
In bed by 10.00 pm.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for reading my blog. Check out my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments.
Richard
