In my life as a mother, I have come to the conclusion that there comes a time when a child adamantly refuses to go to school.
The season manifests mostly during the cold July. My five-year-old daughter Tasha is in that phase.
There is a post that I saw on Facebook that aptly captures what she is experiencing: "I can't go to school mom.
The blankets have accepted me as one of their own. If I leave now I might lose their trust."
This is clearly what is happening. Now for the last two weeks, going to school has been a tug of war.
First day, she deliberately crashed the alarm clock and I overslept.
"Mum, we are so late there is no need to go to school," she begged me when she realised I had overslept and we were running late.
I did not want to give in to her whims, so late as we were I quickly prepared her and dropped her off. Day two, she woke up with an alleged tummy ache.
"Mum, I am not feeling well today. My stomach hurts," she mourned sheepishly when I went to wake her up.
"I will give you some medicine and your tummy will be fine," I pretended to console her.
"But mum, I will not be able to work in school with a tummy ache," she complained as she drugged herself out of bed.
"No you have to go to school. If your tummy gets worse, your teacher will call me," I made a firm stand.
That week, her excuses continued to manifest in interesting ways, "Oh my head aches, my leg hurts, my tooth," I was used to the drama.
The next week, she pulled another shocker, she hid her uniforms.
Now my house girl always arranges the clothes in one place, but the cheeky girl took the clothes the previous night and hid them.
We looked for the clothes everywhere in vain and when I realised the search was going nowhere, I dressed her in her smaller kindergarten clothes and rushed her to school.
Later during the day, the housegirl called me when I was at work and informed me that she had found the uniforms nicely hidden under Tasha's mattress.
I wonder what baby girl has up her sleeves next. By the way, did I mention that I also used to pull such pranks when I was in primary? No wonder all the forms of discipline I have used - from spanking to grounding sessions - are not just working. Like mother like daughter.