Pens-down parties a nightmare
Know your kids’ whereabouts
Let me take you down memory lane. Among one of my many talents, I’ve been a judge at a beauty contest. Before then, in high school, I had strutted my stuff in a beauty contest.
Look at me now and you might not believe it. Anyway, I sat in judgment with Nontsizi and my friend Wondy after the organisers of the pageant had reached out to us due to our eminent status in society, and brains.
Anyway, there we sat, remonstrating over who among the girls sashaying on stage was worthy of the crown. Wondy and I were a bit tipsy, while Nontsizi took the whole shebang a tad too serious.
Being friends, it meant we hunt in packs. Thus, we decided on a prospect we both had eyes on, against her wishes. Yes, once we were young.
I do not remember exactly how the night panned out because after the beauty contest, came the after-party and I remember waking up in the wee hours, slumped on a chair in a community hall and nobody in sight. I dusted myself, looked around the place and reset my memory before taking a walk of shame home. The judge lived to fight another day. I guess I was lucky.
Now that I’m a parent, it gives me the heebie-jeebies when my kids are out there at night having fun.
Now that exams are done and dusted and December is here, my grey strands are starting to show. The “pensdown parties” have started in earnest and the festive is in the air. It’s gonna be a long month for us as parents. Then comes December 16, another date wherein young blood goes ballistic, then of course Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
I beseech you as parents to remain vigilant and ensure you know the whereabouts
of your sprog. I am fully in support of the Mpumalanga department of education’s instruction to pupils to shun “pens-down parties”.
They always end in tears, for some. Let us keep in mind the sorrow of East London families who lost their children in a tavern a few months
ago. I’ll be spending my December on stage, launching my hustle as a budding amapiano-house muso.
As much as I no longer have a feel for nightlife, I have no option but to grace the places that will help my career. Ke Dezemba boss, but please keep it safe and don’t stray.