Going down memory lane

Today, while endlessly scrolling through tiktok because I had nothing better to do, I had stumbled upon this video where a mom was making use of a tape rule to measure the food she was giving her kids, not because she didn't have much to give to both of them, but because the kids are always competitive and complain whenever they find out that the other person's food is way bigger than theirs. So in other for peace to reign, she makes use of the tape rule to maje sure it's both equal.

It was an hilarious thing to watch but also took me down through memory lane. You see, I grew up in a family of four boys, with me being the third son. But before my little brother was born, I used to be the last child and for a while, my brothers bullied me when it came to sharing food, especially meats.

Back then, I and my siblings used to eat in the same plate whenever we were eating stuff like Garri and soup, and when it came to sharing the meats, I was always the last to pick because I was the youngest and trust me when I say that there was nothing fun about that.

In as much as it's common sense for the people older than me to pick their meats before me, it felt like I was getting cheated all the time because the same people who divided the meat were the ones choosing first, so all they had to do in other to have the biggest share was to share the meat in a way where one was bigger than the rest and they just end up picking that same one.

Luckily for me, my dad is a man of fairness and had caught on to their tricks after I had complained to him, so he came up with a solution, one I probably would use for my kids if they end up eating from the same plates while growing up.

You see, my dad came up with a rule which simply placed the youngest (which was me) in charge of splitting the meats, while the oldest would pick first until it gets to my turn (the youngest). So what that did was that it gave me the opportunity to try my best to share the meats as equally as possible everytime because I knew that if one was bigger than the other, my eldest brother would go for it while they leave the smallest one for me.

So I always made sure everything was 50/50 or at least close to it, and that placed an end to me getting or feeling cheated.

_{photo by Elton Sa}