On weekdays, evenings at home are pretty tame affairs. When the sun sets and it gets dark there is nothing very much I can ‘do outside. So I usually remain indoors.
I complete whatever homework that has to be done. Sometimes there is no homework so I play with my baby sister. She is a load of fun and energy and there are a dozen things we can do together. She especially likes to read picture books and play with colored pencils as any two-year-old would. So we go through her collection of pictures and coloring books. By eight in the evening, my mother would come and get her ready for bed.
After the baby has gone to sleep, my mother, my father, elder brother, elder sister., younger sister and I would sit together in the dining room to have our dinner. My mother is a great cook and we enjoy the food tremendously. My elder sister is already a good cook, having learned the skill from my mother. So she helps my mother with her cooking. sometimes help out too, but I am not such a good cook.
After dinner, I wash up if it is my turn. The others adjourn to the living room. My father usually watches television. My mother usually has unfinished household chores like ironing clothes to do. So she does them. We, the children, sometimes watch television or listen to the radio. At other times, when we feel like it, we sit down and play some board games like Monopoly and Ludo.
At nine o’clock my elder brother locks up the main gate and other doors. He has the task of making sure all the doors and windows are secure before we retire for the night. At about nine-thirty, we usually go to bed to have a good night’s sleep. If we go to bed too late, then it will be really difficult to get up on time for school the next morning. I always make sure I have enough sleep every night. If there is something really worth watching on television then we may stay up a bit later. However, my father insists that we all get to bed by ten-thirty at the latest. We are all in bed by the time regardless of anything good on the television.
On weekends, evenings at home are a bit different from the usual, My elder brother, who is already in Form Six, gets to go out with his friends for an evening in town. We, the younger ones, are not allowed to go out unless we have good reasons to. Usually, we stay at home.
Since the next day is a holiday, we do not bother to do any homework. We watch television as there are better shows at the weekend. Also, our father allows us to stay up as late as we like as we do not have to get up early. At times we sit around our father while he tells us stories. He has many stories to tell about his younger days. ‘Na learn many things from what he tells us.
By midnight my elder brother will have return from town as he is not allowed to come home later than that. Sometimes he buys back some supper which we all share in before going to bed. Finally, when the clock has gone past twelve we all go to bed.