Motherhood is a plethora of experiences including listening to your kids say the darndest things. In this article, 5 Nigerian mums tell us the most interesting things their child has ever said to them. 

Adesuwa, 27

My daughter is three years old. One morning, someone in the house asked how was her night after she woke up. She turned to me and said, “Mummy I didn’t sleep throughout the night.” When I asked why, she said, “I was busy thinking of how to make money for you.” 

I think this says a lot about me. 

Tomi, 34

Children

are undefeated. One day, my kids — a ten-year-old and an eight-year-old — wanted me to share my internet with them. I said no. They asked why, because I always have data on my phone. I said because I am not broke like them. Then the ten-year-old said, “If you are not broke, we wouldn’t be sharing a compound with other people.” 

Sola, 32

My son is three years old, and he has limited speech for his age. So most of the time I struggle to interpret what he’s saying. One night he entered our room, saw me faffing on the bed and said, “Get up from there.” He was very clear. I asked my partner to be double sure and he confirmed. I hold on to it on days when I’m worried if or when he’ll speak.

Tosin, 36

My 18-month-old daughter is very enthusiastic about food. Her default response to food is ‘snice (It is nice). One day she put her hand in my food and tossed a piece of diced fried plantain in her mouth. She spat it out immediately, shouted no and walked away in a huff. Her dad hates plantain, so I don’t have to worry about DNA.

Arabella, 30 

It didn’t happen to me, but I was in a room talking with some mums during my daughter’s ballet class. We were talking about ear piercings, and one little girl asked her mum when she got her ears pierced. Her mum said, “As a baby, my mum took me to get it done,” and the girl replied, “Oh no, that’s sad — nobody asked you if you wanted it but they did it anyway.” We were all stunned in the room. A lesson on consent from a five-year-old.

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