Amarachi Okeh: Truth Lies in the Heart of a Child

school closes at 1:30pm. Finally around 4:30pm I
heard a knock on the gate. He dropped the 8 year
old boy and zoomed off! Without explanation. I
called my aunt and told her what time the driver
dropped David. She didn’t believe but found
excuses for him. She called back. He had told her
that he was stuck in the line buying fuel; David
was with him all this while in the fuel station but
his story contradicted with what David told me.
David had told me he was in school and was
among the last five persons left in the school
compound with their math teacher. My aunt came
back and I asked him to recount his story but he
was inconsistent. Fortunately, my aunt believed
him: ‘David won’t lie to me.’ After a few more
incidents of such lateness and lying which David
was always contradicting, the driver was
changed.
Here then lies the problem most adults face when
deliberating a case between an adult and a child.
Who to believe.
This story is likely the story and confusion most
parents, adults face. Who do you believe? The
small child or the adult? Sometimes, you want to
believe the adult so that you don’t insult him and
not trust your child because it’s coming from a
child’s mouth ’she’s just a child what does she
know.’
Perhaps that’s the reason why a lot of children
are being sexually and emotionally manipulated
by adults and they keep quiet because their
parents don’t believe them and only believe them
when they see physical evidence. One of the most
valuable things a parent can give her child is
trust. Hey, don’t get it wrong, it doesn’t mean
that you shouldn’t investigate because some
children are given to lies and mischievousness
just to have their way. Trusting your child is a
way of boosting their confidence in you and
themselves. Knowing your child and his
disposition to telling the truth at all times helps
inform you on how truthful she is when she tells
you something about an adult.
I saw a meme which once had these words: three
people that tell the truth are: a child, a drunk and
a mad man.There is always a sort of truth in the
word of a child (your child), and it is usually
questioned when it involves an adult because one
is torn between disrespecting the adult or
insulting his credibility and the innocent story of
a child who only has his words.
Never look down on a child. As an adult deserves
respect so does a child too. Show her a little
respect by putting in mind what she has to say to
you, never brush off anything she says as the
knowledge of a mere child. Consider what she
says. Perhaps your inability to believe her is why
she never can tell you what that teacher did, or
that your cousin or brother or family friend.
Because she knows that to you, her words
amount to nothing. All her words are stuck with
her in her mind until she finds a stranger who will
let her know that whatever she says is just as
important.