How Do You Ask a New Friend Out?

A few days ago, I was in a supermarket shopping when I saw a young lady walk in. I liked her immediately.

There was something about the way she carried herself that was at once elegant and girl-next-door, and when she looked my way I saw the spark of intelligence in her eyes.

I wanted to be friends. Not just for those reasons but for the inexplicable reason that people just speak to something inside us. I used to wonder how, as toddlers in kindergarten and children in primary school, we gravitated towards some kids and not others. We couldn’t explain it then, and we can’t even now. We just like certain people.

I walked up to this lady and said hello.

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How to Raise a Rotten Nigerian

Children are the leaders of tomorrow. They are also the insensitive, fraudulent, unconscionably corrupt politicians, public servants and citizens of tomorrow. They are the ones who will ruin countless lives by looting whatever is left of our treasury without flinching. They are the ones who will use their office to make cringe-worthy pronouncements, and laugh at same. They are the ones who, when elected into public office, will spend their time making stupid videos to upload on social media while whole sections of the nation are slaughtered.

Want to raise some of these? Don’t worry, you don’t have to do much. It has more to do with the things you don’t do.

Unhappily Married: Why Won’t She Just Leave?

I attended a women’s retreat recently, and one of the workshops was about what to do when you find yourself in an unfulfilling marriage. Several helpful tips and solutions were proffered, but nobody said anything about leaving until one woman asked in frustration, “When will a woman ever be told to just leave?” Continue reading…

5 Minutes with Arit Abolade, Executive Director, S.T.A.R Foundation

Arit Aduke Abolade is the founder and executive director of Stella Teaching and Relief Foundation (STAR Foundation), a nonprofit organization that operates out of Abeokuta, Ogun State. A graduate of Microbiology, she holds a diploma in Missions from Christian Missionary Foundation and currently works full-time as a Christian missionary with vulnerable children in rural areas. She talked to me about working with children, and the free children’s prayer book she has written. Read it HERE.

Marriage: 10 Things We Know We Should Be Doing, But Aren’t

What you know may not matter much if you aren’t applying it. You might as well not have that knowledge at all. When it comes to marriage, there are things we know we should do, but life and laziness get in the way.

Where Do Busybodies Really Come From?

Children, especially when they are very young, don’t understand boundaries. They feel free to ask any and every question that comes to mind, and to give their opinion on whatever subject, regardless of who is involved. It is in the process of training a child that boundaries are taught. Thus, the child learns that it is not every question that should be asked, and that, unless you’re asked, you should generally keep your opinion about someone else’s business to yourself.

Apparently this only happens in ideal circumstances, and not everyone was trained or remembers what they were taught. How else do you explain the staggering number of adults who have no understanding of boundaries, and who cannot mind their business even if their lives depended on it?

Verbal Abuse: When There Are No Visible Scars

When Lois accepted Nduka’s marriage proposal, she had no idea she would be anything but blissfully happy with him. After all, he had wanted her in his life so badly, expressing his desire to date and marry her several times over the years since they first met…

When you ask Lois how she came to be trapped in an abusive marriage, she hesitates. Accepting Nduka’s treatment of her from the weeks leading up to their marriage, until now, as abuse, has been difficult for her. Continue reading.

15 Animal Facts Your Children Will Love

Looking at the world through the eyes of children makes it so much more fascinating and awe-inspiring – just one of the many reasons why they’re a joy to have around.

Here are 15 facts about animals that your children, and the child in you, will enjoy.

1. Cats have three eyelids: an upper and lower lid just like us, plus a third lid that looks like clear plastic. It helps block out dust and keep their eyes from getting dry.
2. Snails have hundreds of thousands of teeth that they drag along the ground as they search for food.

Read more…

Meet the Boss: Tokunbo Bakare, AskToks.com

Toks Bakare is the founder of asktoks.com. an organisation that provides developmental services to children with autism and other developmental delays.A trained Behaviour Analyst who has over a decade of experience in the field of developmental psychology, Ms Bakare is a specialist consultant who has relocated to Nigeria to fill a gap by providing Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) services to children with developmental disorders and Autism Spectrum Disorders. She talked to me about her motivation, being an entrepreneur, and what every Nigerian should know about autism in this interview.

 

12 Interesting Things about the Richest Person in the World

You already know that the richest man in the world is Bill Gates. You probably also know that the Microsoft founder has topped Forbes’ list of billionaires for 18 out of 23 years, with a net worth of $86bn this year.

However, there are so many other interesting and important things about Bill Gates that will speak to you if you’re open to thinking about and learning from them. See 12 of them here.