Iyabo Alice Ojo is a prominent award-winning Nollywood actress, director, and producer known mostly for her roles in Yoruba movies.
In an interview with Happenings Magazine, Iyabo Ojo speaks about motherhood as a young woman trying to build her career.
Read excerpts below.
On Motherhood and Celebrity
Motherhood gives you the depth of what love means. It allows you understand what it means to truly be in love because your kids fill up your heart. I had my kids at a young age, and as a single mom, it wasn’t easy. I had to learn how to effectively multitask and make plans, so I don’t sacrifice one for the others. When they were much younger, it restricted my ability to truly build my career outside Lagos. I had to be home with my kids every day, even if filming ends by midnight.
I had problems with producers shooting outside Lagos because I had to come home to check on my kids, get them ready for school fro the next day, check their homework and all. I channel out time to spend with them. I take a week break in December from work; every holiday is spent with the kids, I get to bond with them and share moments with them.
It’s not an easy one but as they grow, they have learned how to handle things better.
I advise parents to be open about sex issues with their children. My life history brought that up. I grew up with my granny and there was no one to talk to me about sex and biological changes in the female anatomy. I was naïve about so many things. I grew up with that mentality that, “if a guy touches me, then I’ll get pregnant.” As a mother, I owe it to myself to educate my daughter on these things.
I am giving my daughter proper talk on sex and the female body since she became a teenager. It has bonded us to the level that we talk about everything- from boys, maturity, sex, marriage, all the supposed taboos parents shy away from.
As parents, we are always in denial, thinking our kids are the best; we ignore these important conversations thereby resulting in our kids learning from their peers. Parents should bond properly with their kids, talk to them rather than yell at them. Don’t push them away.
