Entertainment, survival lessons for all ages, by Michael Olatunbosun |

The book before us today is a book of counsel for young boys and girls, as well as families of this generation. It is titled: “Lara’s Lessons,” written by Ronke Giwa-Onafuwa, and published in 2022 by PurpleBloom, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Giwa-Onafuwa is an author, content creator, and award winning broadcaster with experience spanning radio and television. She worked at Splash FM Ibadan, Vintage FM (as General Manager), and currently serves as General Manager of Dominion Television in Ibadan.

Lara’s Lessons is a book with a series of very potent messages for young ones of this generation. And the author, in her usual maternal mien, introduces the reader to the focus of the book in the author’s preface. Ronke tells us that the book explores some of the issues that affect young boys and girls, especially teenage girls, who might have been misunderstood by their parents. She writes that she faced similar challenges as a teen herself because there was no relatable counsel or role models who connected, and therefore provided the mentoring that synced with her own make-up. 

So, since becoming a parent herself, she believes that the old model of parenting that she and her class was exposed to, is now obsolete, therefore she writes that parents need to upgrade their “parenting OS and be prayerful in order to parent successfully in this day and age.”

The author, without equivocation, lays out her cards right from the beginning, and asserts that lessons in this book are not some esoteric nuggets.

The book, Lara’s Lessons, strikes a cord, and tickles me in lots of ways. It is a story of stories simply laid out in nine organic chapters, each story dovetailing with the others, in an intricately didactic depth.

In the first chapter: “A Lesson about Adulting,” we are introduced to our protagonist, Lara and her daydreaming about being a celebrated fashion designer. And her often-thought wish of growing up quickly so that she could live on her own and do things her way. Lara’s daydreams are perpetually punctured by Fola, her sister and her mom’s commands for her to do one house chore or the other, and Lara always feels as though everybody is breathing down her neck.

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In this book, we have before us two contrasts: Aunt Bukky visits her little nieces, Lara and Fola, finds some respite in being with the girls and family and feeling rather unlucky that though she’s got a good job and can buy anything, life is still tough. She concludes that adulting is a scam. On the other hand, here is Lara wishing to become an adult quickly in order to live as she wishes, with the assumed freedom that comes with it. Lara gets a bit of lecture: accountability is a concomitant of life, and adult life is a life of responsibilities. 

In this book, the author also tucks in some golden nuggets on how not to use social media. We understand that when teenagers are unguided about proper ways of using smart phones and social media, they can get lost and be distracted. Thus we see Lara again burning her uniform, getting distracted. She is entrapped on a misadventure with a stranger on social media as she succumbs to peer pressure and a false solace in a stranger’s validation gets her on a dangerous path.

In Lara’s Lessons, Ronke Giwa-Onafuwa gives the reader a vivid narration of school setting bullying and its psychological effect on the person at the receiving end. She  shows the reader that it is unfair to laugh at people, unfeeling and uncaring about what they might be facing. She insists that it is important to speak up and not be timidly fearful in the face of bullying, either as the victim or friend of the victim of bullying.

The fourth chapter of the book exposes to the reader strong lessons about self-esteem especially for teenagers. Lara is here at the house of her cousin, Toni, who just returns to Nigeria for the holidays. Whenever Lara converses with Toni and Michelle, her friend, she feels that her accent is ugly, therefore she feels inadequate, inferior and awkward. In contrast, we see Fola, Lara’s sister and how she easily eases into conversations with other people without being ashamed of her accent.

One of the highlights of the book is the preponderance of open, parent-child, no-holds-barred communication splashed across all the nine chapters of Lara’s Lessons. Ronke gives us surplus supplies of this openness when Lara and her parents communicate and engage. It is therefore instructive how the author brings parents, especially Lara’s mother, perpetually with timely interventions at critical junctures in the life of our protagonist in this work. This is a model for 21st century parenting indeed. 

We also read in the book, Lara’s Lessons, the need to introduce the rudiments of financial education to children, especially young boys and girls. For Lara, our protagonist, it is indeed humbling and eye-opening to be exposed to her father’s financial documents, and be able to ask intelligent questions and get proper answers about how to make money, how to invest it, and how to spend it. The book makes it clear that it is an unhealthy mindset that only men should make money while women spend it. An important message in this book is: work hard and smart, make money and spend it wisely and be in control of your finances. 

In this book, the author stages a powerful protest against the stereotypes about beauty and what makes a beautiful woman. 

In chapter seven, Ronke laments about how beauty pageants have now narrowed beauty to light skin, tall and slim, and how it is causing damage to the psyche of young ones and their perception of beauty. So we read that Lara here gets a lesson about having a positive body image, and not to succumb to another person’s idea of how to look. Again, Ronke makes advocacy for day off school for girls during their menstrual period, including admonition on how to manage failure, if, and when it comes, particularly for teenagers. The lesson here is that making the best effort and not struggling to please everyone is key to avoiding perpetual failure.

In the final chapter of Lara’s Lessons, Lara almost gets caught in the ghastly web of marauding men, in her near tragic friendship with Teni, a wayward girl. Of course, she learns to not disregard her parent’s warning, after she almost gets raped by Segun.

Ultimately, the book, Lara’s Lessons, is a great work of art with elegantly crafted plot structure and the author’s dexterity with the English language. The book comes highly recommended. 

. Olatunbosun can be reached via 08023517565 (SMS and WhatsApp only) and [email protected].

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