Parenting under lockdown - fed up kids send 'lawyer's letter' to mom

07 May 2020 - 15:56 By TimesLIVE
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Children are also tired of lockdown.
Children are also tired of lockdown.
Image: 123rf.com/betonstudio

More than 40 days into the coronavirus lockdown and it's not only parents complaining about how tough it is being cooped up indoors.

The children are tired too! 

Throughout the lockdown, parents have turned to social media to share their frustrations as equally frustrated children empty the cupboards and fridges and resist doing chores. Parents have scrambled to find activities to keep them busy and quiet long enough to get some work done from home.

And then of course there's sitting down to do school work.

But a lighthearted post shared by one parent on Twitter revealed that it's been just as tough for the little ones. 

Bulelwa Mabasa on Thursday said she had been served with an authentic looking “cease and desist” letter from her two children, who were tired of being disciplined and forced to do household chores.

The professionally presented letter, from “Aunty Duty Attorneys”, spelt out the grievances. They included:

  • Invasion of privacy by posting social media content without verbal or written permission;
  • Threatening eviction during a national lockdown as declared in the Disaster Management Act; and
  • Acts of unequal and unfair treatment towards girl children. 

Aunty Duty Attorneys issued a “strong warning” to the mom. 

“Your actions are unwanted, unwelcome and have become unbearable to my clients. As a result of your behaviour, my clients have suffered” in the following manner: 

  • Physical harm and injury; 
  • Substantial harm to their personalities; 
  • Substantial damage to their self-esteem; 
  • Emotional distress and reputational damage.

“I demand that you cease from these activities immediately, failing which legal action against you will be taken. We will further seek all available damages and remedies, including, but not limited to adoption,” the letter read.  

Mabasa quipped about how the children clearly had not thought of the consequences of their actions. 

“Wait till I tell them I've sold everything and they have to find a lawyer so I can afford to defend this case,” she said. 

TimesLIVE has reached out to the mom for an update on how the case is progressing.


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