The necessity of handling contentions.

“Will you not get out of that place! Do you want to spoil that drone? I have warned you and next time it will come with a big slap on your yellow tender cheek”, shouted Jeremy. 

Mrs. April hurriedly coming  down the stairs shouts, “who wants to bring down my house with such a temper?”

It was on a hot Tuesday  afternoon in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan  April, Enugu, Nigeria, where Jeremy and his friend Jason, who shortly visited him, were checking out his new drone which his dad recently got for him on his 18th birthday that year. Mr. Jonathan, on the other hand, kept himself very busy researching on his new technology, while his last baby girl Valerie, who was 6 years old quietly came to him and lifted her face towards her dad putting on a very warm look saying “dad I really want to learn how to use a drone, can you please teach me”. 

Mr. Jonathan replied saying “sweetie I guess your brother can help you with that, why not go to him, perhaps he might be working on it now”.

 “Ok dad” said Valerie, as she runs off down the stairs to meet her brother. 

They lived in a very massive duplex containing five rooms upstairs and seven rooms downstairs; It was carefully constructed. The sitting room had a very big painting of an African woman  wearing an ankara wrapper, carrying a flower verse by her side. 

As Jeremy continues with his drone, valerie approaches him with great excitement, as she stretches her hand to reach out to the drone, Jeremy says "Please do not allow the drone slip out of your little tender hands". As he was talking, he held her hands and showed her how to handle it. Valerie enjoyed her time with her brother, so she continued coming so as to learn how to control the drone. 

One certain evening on a monday, she came down to where Jeremy was and asked if she could play with the drone and Jeremy said "please not now, I am very busy on something else". When Jeremy was not looking, she quickly ran to where he kept the drone and was playing with it. All of a sudden, it slipped out of her hand and fell on the floor, that was when Jeremy raised his voice at her saying "Will you not get out of that place! Do you want to spoil that drone? I have warned you and next time it will come with a big slap on your yellow tender cheek". 

No one had ever shouted at Valerie, as a result of that she began to cry out loud then she started saying "I was only looking for what to keep myself busy with, nobody seems to have my time". She said this and continued sobbing softly.

Mrs April approaching the stairs where everything happened, came to Valerie and said "oh no! Don't say that baby, we love you so much, you know how your brother loves his drone and would always want to keep it safe, at the same time, he loves you so much just that he was busy at the moment. Okay come let's get busy in the kitchen. I will teach you something."

Valerie, wiping her tears, follows her mum to the kitchen. 

Mr Jonathan came downstairs to the kitchen where Valerie and her mum was and asked " I heard something just now, who did they slap or who are they trying to slap? In fact where is Jeremy?"

"Dad I am over here" replied Jeremy. "Well I did not slap anybody, (he continues) I just gave her a warning."

Mr Jonathan abruptly interrupts saying, "eh eh, do not even go there, are you aware that she is just a kid. Do not ever raise your voice at her. Hope it is well understood ". 

"Sure dad, I am sorry" Jeremy uttered.

Jeremy feeling sorry, approached his sister saying, " Val baby, I am sorry okay, see I brought you something, handing her a lollipop, continued "I will not raise my voice at you again. I love you baby sis."

Valerie hugged her brother and said " will you still allow me to play with your drone?"

Jeremy smiled and said "Well, I will teach you how to operate it."

Jeremy went back to his room while Valerie continued with her mum in the kitchen. Mrs April was teaching her daughter how to serve dishes neatly. As she served lunch into their various plates she watched her closely because she really wanted to learn.

Mrs April said " Val I guess you can serve your brother's dish. But be very careful so that you don't spill it on the floor."

Lunch was served and it was the family's favourite delicacy, bread fruit (popularly known as ukwa), balanced with dry fish and grilled peppered chicken.

"At times, we might have some misunderstanding or even transfer of aggression, but it is very vital to handle it well so that it does not escalate, creating tension in the family. Everyone must learn this, it is very important so that we can live in peace." Mrs April declared.