5 Things You Experienced as a child of a Ghanaian Parent

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Relationships 

Now this is straight up a no-go zone for Ghanaian parents. For them, having a girlfriend  or boyfriend means that you're ready to leave the house and take care ofouremesiont's not even up for discussion and if you want to be on their best side you better stay away from relationships till you're like maybe 40 and then they start disturbing you about when you're going to get married. And relationship advice? Definitely not consulting your parents. Its usually funny when you watch Hollywood and TV shows abroad where kids feel free telling their parents about their relationships and their parents are cheering them. Those things don't happen here. They'd spend the first few hours lambasting you for having a partner and then if you're lucky, they'll remember to give you the advice you're looking for, and then end with "end it"

"That's a lie"

I cannot begin to tell you how irritated I get with this every time it happens. Imagine being accused of something based on assumptions without being able to defend yourself. Say anything contrary to what your parents said and you'll be hit the with the are-you-calling-me-a-liar question and this is annoying. In our culture, you can't call your parents or any older person a liar, directly or indirectly. So you're tasked with having to put up with some of the most extreme bs in your life. 

Tired

Now this one Ghanaian parents can't tolerate at all especially the authoritative ones. You can go and kill demons, run from UK to Ghana and the moment you get home, they'll give you a task and they don't want to hear any "i'm tired" excuse. This is really frustrating like is it so hard to pick up the remote from the table that's 3 feet away than to call me, a worn out person to walk all the way from my bedroom for it? Or like can you just go down the road to get the drink you so badly want so I can nap for the 3 minutes? Ugh

Eat by force

This might not be peculiar to Ghana but Ghanaian mothers can stress children over this, trust me. It's like hell would break loose if you don't eat the food she went lengths to cook for you. Once the food is cooked, forget about eating outside when clearly you don't like that food. You'd be forced to eat and if you don't, you're either beaten or probably starved to death. Be sure you wouldn't die because Ghanaian mothers are also sweet and would take you to the hospital before things get worse. Not that you're free from scolding though. 

When I was your age... 

I certainly believe that every Ghana kid has experienced this but I think this is also not typical to only Ghanaian parents. You are sure to hear this preamble everytime you make a mistake like they were perfect child. Break a glass and it's followed by "when I was your age, my father wouldn't have spared me" or fail your exams, "when I was your age, I was excelling in school. " I don't even know where you got this brain from" to "when I was your age, I was reading everything I came across". Then they begin to blame technology and how they should bring back the old school system with rods and canes. This makes you think your parents are the perfect beings and then as you grow up, you see all the flaws. 

Irrespective of these, Ghanaian parents are great. They strive to provide a better life for their kids than they had and make sure kids grow up to be responsible citizens in the near future. Feel free to comment anything else you experienced and make sure not to show to your parents...hehe