When you think of betrayal, you think of lovers hurting you or friends doing unimaginable things to you, but that’s not the case for a lot of millennials.
Before we go on, we need to ask one question: are baby boomers proud of the lies they told and the hurt they caused young millennials?
Here are a few ways millennials got introduced to betrayal.
1. “Go and put on your shoes”
Seems like a harmless statement, but this sentence was the poster phrase for betrayal. Nigerian parents, uncles and aunties broke our hearts with this phrase. Some of us almost gave up wearing shoes because shoes were synonymous with heartbreak and betrayal.
2. Finding thread and needle in the Danish cookie container
Every millennial knows how good Danish cookies are. So imagine the hurt and pain when you open a Danish cookie container and find thread and needles there? Nigerian adults had several other containers they could store their thread and needles in but chose to put them in the ones that would attract the most and hurt their kids’ feelings. Peak betrayal.
3. Finding egusi in the Ice-Cream bowl
Someone needs to do a study to understand the reason for this kind of wickedness. Opening up an Ice-Cream bowl (especially Supreme ice cream of those days) and finding egusi in it hurt more than finding thread and needles in cookie containers. And why must it always be egusi?!
4. “If you tell me the truth, I promise I won’t beat you”
Nigerian adults had a thing for lies, but no one comes close to boomer parents. You’ll tell them the truth and still get the beating of your life. We’re sure a lot of young Nigerian men are liars today because they had to tell a lot of lies to avoid getting betrayed/beat up as kids.
5. “Let me hold your money for you”
Millennials being the sweet little peas they are, always trusted their parents (especially mums) to actually keep their money safe. Just imagine their shock when they asked for it in the future only to be blackmailed. Mummy, you promised to keep this money for me, not use it to feed me?
6.“I’ll be back soon”
One day we’ll sit with older Nigerian parents and ask them why they had such an issue with telling the truth. You’d expect them to be back soon while waiting for several hours with a broken heart.
