How to respond to your child when he asks you to have another child!

I never thought it would happen to me, but it has. My 5-year-old has asked for a little brother.

This small boy I carried in my stomach for 41 weeks, for whom I took an injection in my spine, declared that he wants a sibling.

Give these children an inch; they'll take a yard!

Suppose my brother had not died and the responsibility of continuing my mother's bloodline had not been left to me alone––the boy may not even be alive!

The request was made during the holy month of Ramadan. I had just finished praying in his grandmother's oversized lavender gown when the boy looked up from a laptop to address me on my womb matters.

"Mama, you look pregnant."

"I am not!"

"Well, I want a younger brother."

"I suggest you let your father know next time you visit him," said I with the calmness of one who does not put up with nonsense.

"He gave you a sister, so maybe he can give you a brother too."

"No, I want you to do it! Give me a younger brother!" Demanded the boy who this time last year was still sleeping in pampers at night.

He addressed me as though we were co-e-cos (for you non-GH readers...coequals). Only a belful child would just open his mouth to ask for pregnancy.

I took off the oversized gown and put on my shorts so the boy would know not to confuse a hot one like me with a pregnant woman.

And then he continued.

"But Mama, can't you just give me a younger brother? I want a younger sister and a younger brother."

Still calm and composed, I said what I had already been told the boy!

"Next time you talk to your father, let him know you want one of each."

"My father is not a woman," says the small boy, letting me know that he knows anatomy and physiology.

"That is true, but he has a wife, so maybe she and your father could make a baby brother for you."

"That's not gonna happen," he snaps in American.

To which I equally responded in American; "It ain't gonna happen here neither."

He stops talking for a while.

"But Mama, you can do it!"

"I can't!"

Then I got a great idea! (Not that you would be surprised to read this as you must know by now that Ideas and I go together like Aki and PawPaw, Salone police, and excessive force—HA! Too soon?)

"I think if you want a baby, you should wait till you're older. When you're older, you can get married and make your own baby."

He looked at me with fear in his eyes and said, "Who will be my wife?"

And before I could respond, he screamed!

"No, I don't want to get married!"

"Hahahahahahahha," I laughed at him in Nigerian.

"Well, I'm not married, but I still had you. Marriage can be nice, but you don't need to be married to have a child."

"Mama, when are you going to let me have a pet? You have money; I know you have money. When can I have a pet?"

If you're wondering how we went from child to pet, your guess is as good as mine.

Whatever the case, I have learned that when people who have no business talking about your womb start to do so, you must choose violence!

If you want a baby, no problem, born wan for you sef! If you're not too young to tell me to get pregnant, you ain't too young to be planning your marriage, little boy!

I thought that was the end of it. Some 12 hours later, we were in bed. I asked how the boy how his day was? He said it was fine. He told me he spoke to his father. I wondered how his father was, and he told me his father was fine. I said, good. I closed my eyes to go to sleep, and then he sat up in a jolt.

"Ah! I forgot to ask him to give me a little brother!"

I don't know how it's going to end, but I've got my popcorn.