My daughter asked me why I don't just buy a new phone when mine hangs. I had to sit her down.

She said it so casually, like she was asking why I don't just buy new shoes. My phone is four years old, the screen has a crack shaped like River Niger, and it freezes every time I open WhatsApp. But when she said that, I just looked at her.

This girl has never queued for fuel in Ibadan. She has never had to calculate whether ₦5,000 should go for data or for the pot of soup. She thinks money just appears when you tap a card. I had to explain to her that in this house, we don't replace things because they are old. We replace them because they have died and refused to resurrect.

My mother used to patch my school sandals with a hot knife and a piece of rubber from a tyre. I wore those sandals until my toes were greeting the ground. And now my own daughter thinks a cracked screen is a national emergency. I don't blame her sha. But I told her, this phone will serve until Jesus comes back or until the battery finally gives up and goes to be with the Lord. Which one of una children has ever asked u a question that made u want to scream and laugh at the same time?