There lived, a long time ago, two half-brothers named Tolu and Tola. The two were age mates. The two brothers shared the same father, who died when they were both still small, but different mothers. Like all kids, Tolu and Tola were very troublesome and they got into trouble easily, but while Tolu’s mother, Mama Agba, was very strict and meted out appropriate punishments for Tolu’s wrongdoings, Tola got away with most of his pranks because his mother, Mama kekere, was very protective of him.
She wouldn’t punish him or allow him to be punished. Mama Kekere always had an explanation to excuse Tola’s behaviour.Tolu and Tola attended the same school. While Tolu was well-behaved in school, listening attentively to his lessons, doing his class-works and home-works correctly, Tola was always playful in class; he was always among the noisemakers, and he wouldn’t do his home-works. And the mother never cared to monitor Tola’s school activities, unlike Mama Agba, who monitored Tolu’s works.
One day in school, Tola’s teacher caught him cheating in class; he was copying a friend’s assignment. The teacher scored Tola and his friend zero for this and punished the two boys. When Tola got home that day, he lied to his mother that he did his home-work properly but that the teacher scored him zero. The mother was so angry that the next day she followed Tola to the school and spoke angrily to the teacher. She wouldn’t believe the teacher when he told her, her child was caught cheating in the class.
It took the intervention of the headmaster to prevent Mama Kekere from physically assaulting Tola’s teacher. The headmaster, who was so surprised by Mama Kekere’s actions, advised her that such behaviour and action send the wrong signal to the child, as the child might from the notion that he can do anything and get away with it.‘’No, my Tola is different, he is always a good boy,’’ retorted Mama Kekere. ‘’Ok madam,’’ replied the headmaster.
‘’I just thought you should be more cautious the way you handle your kid.’’ Tola’s mother wasn’t happy with this, she felt the headmaster was taking sides with his teacher and she angrily left the office, promising to deal with anybody who dared touch her Tola again. In the secondary school, Tola began to associate with bad boys in school and they were involved in lots of truancy, smoking, drinking, stealing and all social vices. Tola began to miss classes and keep late nights, drinking and smoking with his gang.
Mama Agba, who noticed Tola’s strange behaviour,one day called Tola’s mother and told her about it, but Mama Kekere was not happy with Tolu’s mother, claiming that she was jealous of Tola’s popularity and liveliness. Mama Agba replied by warning Tola’s mother that she would eventually regret her pampering of her son as it was bound to destroy his future and life and eventually that of Mama Kekere.Tola was eventually caught by the police during a burglary operation and was detained in the cell where he escaped. The police immediately arrested his mother and locked her up in a cell until the son was found.
Meanwhile, Tolu sat for the Senior School Certificate examinations and the Unified Matriculation examination and when the results were released, he passed both and was offered admission into a university. Tola’s mother was in the cell when she heard Tolu’s performance and she started to weep because she knew it could have been Tola if only she had been a better mother. It was while crying that she remembered the words of the old woman who once admonished her thus: ‘’My child, what you are doing concerning your child is bad, remember, as one makes one’s bed so one must lie on it.’’
