Who is your first cousin and who is your second cousin?

My second son’s wife gave birth to a baby girl. We named the baby Liyana. My first son’s  seven-year old daughter Maysa, was the one most excited about it. She loved children. She always wanted to play with my sister’s granddaughter Alisha, who was about two years old.  A new baby right in our house perked her up.

“Liyana is my sister,” Said Maysa

“She is your cousin,” her mother told her.

“Then I have two cousins, Liyana and Alisha”

“Liyana is your first cousin and Alisha is your second cousin,” her mother said.

“No, Alisha is my first cousin. She was born before Liyana.”

Her mother tried to make her seven-year-old daughter under stand the difference between first cousins and second cousins. She explained to her, that her dad’s brother’s child was her first cousin and his cousin’s offspring was her second cousin. The child never accepted the explanation. She stuck by her guns.

We wonder if my grand daughter  Maysa is going to have a fourth cousin and a fifth cousin, as our family tree grows!

Story  and writing by : Gulsum Basheer