Member-only story
What My Impatient Life Taught Me
In my culture, we often say, “once a man, twice a child.”
Enjoying Parenting: The Parenting Child by Amaraya
Life doesn’t give some of us a choice to be a child.
Annelise Lords
Once a man, twice a child means even though we were born helpless as babies, as we age, we will find ourselves helpless again and need someone to care for us. That responsibility often rests on our children. Parenting demands maturity, which comes with age. Unfortunately, those two don’t often go together. This writer explained how she, as an adult, had to become a parent to her mother.
It then fell on me to wash her. I recall that moment when I took off her panties and began to pour water on her while she sat there. Embarrassment dug furrows across my caramel face. Amaraya
History repeats itself, and her son, under ten years old, had to become her parent after she was diagnosed with cancer. This brought tears to my eyes.
Watching my son become a young carer as I faced off with cancer, I realised…
