My London neighbour is begging me to teach her son Yoruba, but her husband is fighting it

My dear, I just came back from dropping my daughter at her friend's birthday party in Croydon, and I still dey shake my head. The birthday girl's mother, she is a Yoruba woman like us, married to an English man. The woman pulled me aside and said, "Bose, please talk to my husband. He said our son should only speak English at home. He says Yoruba will confuse him at school."

See ehn, I have lived in this country for 18 years. My own children, Tunde and Funmi, they speak Yoruba well well because I refused to let go. Their father is Ghanaian, but I told him from day one, these children will know both sides. And they do. Tunde can greet my mother in Ibadan on the phone without mixing words. Funmi can even insult her brother in Yoruba and he understands. That is not confusion, that is treasure.

This English man, he thinks language is a problem. But I tell you, the real problem is when your child cannot talk to their grandmother. When we go to Nigeria and they are lost, that is when the confusion starts. I told the woman, "My dear, stand your ground. Teach him Yoruba in the house, English will come from school and TV. God is faithful, he will not be confused." She smiled but I could see the fear. Anyway, I don talk my own. Who among us here has a child abroad who cannot speak their mother tongue?