Hard or Soft Toothbrush, Which do you Prefer?!

I choose soft Toothbrush anytime any day! So the other day my son forgot his toothbrush at the sleep over party of his cousin. As a good mummy o, I gave him mine “wink’. Then I decided to change everyone’s brush in the house so I went shopping.

I ended up at a neighborhood shop not my usual practice and I regretted it. There were these nicely packaged brushes looking like what I needed. I made the purchase and was very happy about it.

I opened my own pack and my teeth felt the harshness. I decided to use the one I bought for my husband with the intention of getting him another one later. This brush left me with a wound in my mouth. That was it… I had to go back to the big shopping mall with “correct soft toothbrushes”!

I am happy with my new toothbrush only still nursing the sore in my mouth.

Take my advice go for soft toothbrushes. Your gum and mouth need tender loving care.

Seriously who makes this hard toothbrushes that look like wire?!
Enjoy your weekend 😀😀

Adebisi Adetunji (C)

Thankful and Counting my Blessings… Yeah It’s my Birthday

My family & I. Surrounded by so much love

The whole day yesterday I was kind of sober looking forward to another day, another year when I celebrate my “born day” as a naughty friend of mine says. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to celebrate. It’s a work day… thankfully the weekend is just a few hours away today been Friday.

I decided to have a low key birthday and simply “maturedly” remind myself of how far I have come. My children don’t want to hear this matured angle to it…Lol They want to have a blast. And I am wondering who is actually supposed to be celebrating?!  And seriously calls and text messages are pouring in. Thank you friends, family and loved ones. 💓

Thinking of my journey so far on this side of life, sincerely from my heart when I look back and compare it to where I am today, I must say God has been good to me. I have enjoyed so many mercies!! Jesus has been my closest pal and the Secret to my drive. 

And so it is all wrapped up in the lyrics of this song:

Lord I remember the place where you brought me from
Lord I thank you for where I am today
I see you doing new things in my life
Lord I’m grateful for the future I see.

Thank you for staying with me, reading, liking and commenting on my post. You make me feel special already! So let’s have fun – drop the links to any post of your choice… I will visit, read and comment… So help me God. Plus I share over the weekend in a different post. 

Adebisi Adetunji (C)

Woman to Woman Talk #8 – Why Are we each Other’s Worst Enemies? Time to Change this!

I remember an election in Nigeria at 2011, PDP convention where the party voted to nominate their presidential nominee. Sarah Jibril, the only woman aspirant got only ONE VOTE and that was her own vote! I looked at all the women with head gears and the elitist women who were party card carrying members who had campaigned that more women should be allowed to handle more seats in the political arena of the Country and shook my head.

None of them voted for this fellow woman…rather sad in my opinion. Sometimes I think we are only playing lip service to our cry and desire to give more women a chance.

How can we get more women into leadership positions when we cannot support one another as women? We are territorial and operate a pull her down syndrome once it is not us that is vying for a post.

Often we gossip about each other pinpointing only the bad side to other women. You will hear things like, “who does she think she is?” “Is she the only one?” “I can do it better than her”. And guess who we are babbling this castigation to? The MEN O! How can they ever take us seriously?

If a fellow sister is occupying an office or has what it takes to handle that position support her. In the office some of us women will be unserious or lazy in carrying out the duties of our job. Then we will expect this boss woman to turn the other eye or we simply say, “But she should understand now, Is she not a woman too?! Since when has been a woman become an excuse not to do your job and then you want the men to give us a chance to handle things! Come on, women let’s wake up. Give your best shot at your job and stand out. I know we have to attend to other things in our lives but seriously stop making excuses; stop being lazy and get on with doing your job well. When you do really have to be excused from work let it be noted that something must really be wrong.

If a fellow sister is occupying an office or has what it takes to handle that position support her.

Then this one gets to me. Two women in an office, they are either bosses or colleagues if you like and then they have a misunderstanding …hehehe…work don stop be dat o!

Girl you really need to draw the line between carrying out the duties of your job and personal grouse. If there is a problem face the issue. Be matured enough and be the first to initiate sorting out the problem so that your work can go smoothly. You don’t have to be best of friends with everyone but you can be cordial/friendly after all we all have something we do those other people do not like about us. So stop keeping malice already and get on with your job.

You don’t have to be best of friends with everyone but you can be cordial/friendly after all we all have something we do that others do not like about us.

It is time to support one another as women; Time to change that style of pull her down syndrome; Time to see the good in other women.

Adebisi Adetunji (C)

Shout out to my girls who posed for the photo of this post. Abimbola Idowu & Ifeoluwa Akindele. Love you!!

Have Fun this Holiday!!!

Happy Sallah & Holidays!!!

Adebisi Adetunji (C)

Safe Motherhood #5: A disturbing trend.

A couple already has 5 male children and they arrived at this number because of the desire to have a female child. Nothing wrong with wanting to have both genders but many times things do not work out the way we plan. This woman gets pregnant again and the family is excited and hoped that they will eventually have their much-desired girl child. By the way, it is nice to see a turnaround in the cultural belief that only male children are important in a family.

Back to my story, it turns out that this couple had a double blessing for their long wait. A set of twin baby girls arrived into their lives. They were ecstatic but soon the mother began to bleed after the delivery of the children. Some of her placentae remained in her which caused bleeding. She was eventually referred on emergency to a tertiary hospital for special care. It took a lot to stop the bleeding and save this woman’s life.

Seriously why do we keep endangering our lives as women?  And there are men who insist on having more children when their wives have health challenges or difficult birth experiences… I ask …

Do you want a living wife or a dead one who will leave you to struggle to care for the many children you so desired at the expense of her life and wellbeing?

If God gives you only girls be contended. If it is boys be satisfied too. Have you thought about couples who would give anything to have just one child? I have family friends who insist that they want a certain number of children and it doesn’t matter which sex they are blessed with their decision remains.

Now the couple in my story have seven children…hen! All in the name of having a particular gender as a child. Please be grateful and contented and take care of your children no matter which gender they are.

Hemorrhage or bleeding is one of the leading causes of maternal death. It can occur before, during and after delivery. One cause of bleeding is when the uterus does not contract quickly enough after birth. Having multiple births in quick succession enlarges the uterus. This reproductive female organ is described to be like a balloon and many births cause the uterus to keep expanding and may just “burst” figuratively speaking. This means that the mouth of the womb/cervix may not close up as it should which causes bleeding that can lead to death when next such a woman is having another baby.

It is important for mothers to rest well in between births and equally avoid undergoing too many births than their health can withstand. So encourage and advice your friend, family and those who work for you doing menial jobs to take things easy and plan their babies and also be satisfied with whatever gender they have.

If you are wondering how to prevent unplanned pregnancy visit any family planning clinic or hospital nearest to you to discuss your options. I know that primary health centers also provide these services for a token.

Family Planning reduces maternal mortality by 40%

Adebisi Adetunji ©

Woman to Woman Talk #7– What you should not do with/How to Properly Dispose your Sanitary Towel

 

Hello ladies. How have you been since the last time we talked? Remember this is a conversation and you have an opportunity to say just how you feel about what we discuss here.

I want to take you back a little to the days when you were in the University/College. Yes, I lived in the dormitory for the girls and lots of drama took place. Some roommates fought each other; the nightlife of “Aristoles” who made our car parks their haven every night. Often you would see a girl or two hopping into a car and they zoom off to show up in the early hours of the next day. My gist today is not about “Aristoles”(Older men dating girls) but about how we ladies use our toilet. Or better still how we dispose of our used sanitary towels.

I used to be appalled by the sight in our female toilet. The annoying drama is that sometimes our Water Closet gets blocked when girls try to flush their pad down the toilet. The disgusting one is the blood stained sanitary that you find lying on the bare floor for others to behold. Really annoying and irritating! You know this attitude permeates not just our campuses but also every other place you find women. In the office toilet, public toilet and even religious building toilets!

So here is the thing ladies/women we really must work on disposing of our sanitary towels properly.

A good Hygiene and cleanliness are good habits to imbibe.

How to properly dispose of your used Sanitary Towel:
My mother taught me how to neatly wrap each used sanitary towel before disposing of it in a dustbin.

• You may choose to have old newspapers handy during your mensuration. So whether you are home or going out to work or wherever, fold as much paper you will need in a small paper bag or cellophane bag and put it in your handbag. I mean it looks neat when you dispose of a wrapped used sanitary towel in the toilet dustbin. It is really uncomfortable and irritating seeing all those blood stained pads in the bin.
• Some people choose to wrap theirs in a cellophane bag and burn them later. Your choice.
• While at home as well please stop throwing your used sanitary towel all over the place. That is definitely been dirty and unhygienic.

There is no point to looking all classy, beautiful and sweet on the outside and then you are dirty in the toilet!

Please teach your daughter and girls you come in contact with how to neatly dispose of their used sanitary towel.

Adebisi Adetunji ©

Day of the African Child the Nigerian Way

The Day of the African child is celebrated June 16th every year. It is commemorated In memory of students in Soweto, South Africa who were massacred during a protest demanding for quality education on 16th June, 1976.

Theme: Accelerating protection, empowerment and equal opportunities for Children in Africa by 2030.

Photos from the 2017 celebration organized by the South West Zone of Radio Nigeria Ibadan Zonal Station. 

Adebisi Adetunji (C)

One Way to End the Circle of Poverty for Families

NURHI mobilizer in Ibadan engaging two women and their children about FP.

Low-income earners like market women, Okada riders, taxi drivers, Vulcanizers, cleaners and so on have more children than they can cater for.

A typical Okada rider used to transport passengers

Not too long ago an Okada man picked me up while on my way to the office. We got talking about the economy and how life can be difficult. I asked him about his family and he said that he had two wives and 7 children or more …I can’t really remember the number now. I didn’t want to alarm him but I quickly calculated how much he earns doing his Okada business.

It will not be enough to care for his large family. I then asked him about whether his children were enrolled in a school at least a government school. Well, he said he was trying his best to send them to school.

I shook my head and wondered if the circle of poverty will ever end in his family. If he can’t equip his children with the required skill and education to put them on a better pedestal in life then they all remain a struggling poor generation. This should not be so and can be stopped.

Do you know that those in the upper class and even middle class have fewer children? Imagine a man/woman is a multi-billion naira/dollar business owner and has only two children or four. These children will have more money than they can spend and if they are properly groomed and disciplined they will keep multiplying that money!

The Way Forward
I will say, educate as many people as you can about the need to raise a family commensurate to their income and ability. I have people who work for me like my housekeeper, and I also meet others like our mechanic, petty trade shop owner on my street. Hopefully, I can keep educating them about this “suicide” mission of having a large family with little or no money.

One way to end the circle of poverty among low income earners is to educate them about benefits of planning their families and having only the number of children they can cater for.

In my experience some of these people don’t know that they have a choice in the matter; they don’t know that there is something they can do about it.

Benefits of FP
• Mothers can rest between births and therefore are healthier
• Children born can receive proper care and nutrition while they develop. It is difficult taking care of a 3 months old baby when the mother becomes pregnant too soon.
• Income can be managed better with fewer mouths to feed
• Children can go to school and attain higher education.
• Fathers and mothers can have less stress in managing the resources of their family.
• Fewer fights in the family when the resources can go round.

Adebisi Adetunji ©

Money is a Seed with Potential to Grow into a Tree

How do you see those Naira/Dollar notes that flow through your fingers? It is more than just a paper you transact with. It more than just using it to acquire things.

How you view money will determine your attitude towards it. Your attitude towards money will in turn cause it to grow or disappear no matter how much passes through your hands.

While growing up we all don’t get to go to a school where we are taught how to manage money and make it grow. Like everyone else we learn the lessons along the way stumbling and making loads of costly mistakes.

Earning more or making more money is not the issue but how to manage and grow money is the thing. How do we grow our monies to become a tree that will sustain us at retirement? I am also talking about Money that will be a legacy for those who will come after us when we are gone. Now that is the kind of money I’d like to have!

More money can mean more frustration if you do not know how to keep planting some of it as seeds.

How to achieve successs at planting your money seed:

• Don’t spend all you make or earn.
• Save an amount daily no matter how small. A N100 or 1 dollar daily is a great way to start.
• Don’t spend all you have in acquiring things, invest and be disciplined now so you can enjoy your tomorrow.
• You don’t have to make a statement trying to be like everyone. Plan… Plan.. and spend less than you earn.
• Have a target amount you intend to save.
• Decide the time you want to have achieved this. For example, 1-5 year plan.
• Have a purpose for saving. What do you want to do with the money you are saving.
• When the money comes rolling in invest in the lives of others. Give back to the society.

These points are my personal Lessons drawn from reading chapter 1 of the book: Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen.

Adebisi Adetunji (C)

Happy Fathers Day

I simply want to appreciate these men in my life and every father out there. Being a good father means lot.

My love and his nephew

My brother in-law and his daughter

My dad and brother

My sister and her husband

Adebisi Adetunji (C)