DESPITE so much news lately related to children’s safety, some parents are still too trusting and taking it too easy.
One case that comes to mind is the recent one in Bandar Baru Bangi. According to an NST news report, the young mother of the 11-month-old baby girl, who died due to sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her caretaker’s husband, got the shock of her life when she discovered that the woman who was supposed to be the caretaker didn’t care for her baby at all. It was the husband who’d been doing it all along.
Now, there are a few major concerns here. First of all, how can a non-qualified man be trusted to care for a young baby without supervision? While any man is equally capable of handling babies and children, he needs to be qualified and registered at least. How could the caretaker take on the job knowing that she didn’t have the capacity to do so?
It makes one wonder about our very loose regulations when it comes to caring for our young ones. How many more innocent victims will be claimed before we strengthen the regulations?
RECOGNISING THE DANGERS
Caring for young babies and toddlers requires special care and skills. The place needs to be clean and well-maintained. Facilities need to be of hygienic standard to prevent any unnecessary health risks which may affect the fragile toddlers. At the least, they need to be registered and constantly monitored by the relevant authorities.
If the poor baby’s parents had taken note of these matters, perhaps this tragedy could have been avoided. This leads us to the second point. Why had the parents not noticed any signs of mistreatment before the tragedy happened? Before we jump to conclusions and blame the parents entirely, we must be aware that sexual predators are a very determined lot. They’re very patient in nurturing the family’s trust. It may take weeks, months or even years. It’s called sexual grooming.
I think this was the case. It appears that the perpetrator’s wife trusted her husband fully. Sexual assaults and molestations are very real threats in our society today, regardless of the family. If we think that our family is safe from all this, why not think again. We must never let our guard down for someone may be grooming us into trusting him.
Tell our children not to simply trust anyone. Teach them to recognise the tell-tale signs of danger and know how to get help. There are plenty of resources out there, so there’s really no reason for our children to be the next victim. Most importantly, parents must recognise the distress signals and not brush them aside. In this case, being a little paranoid can save our children’s lives.
Zaid Mohamad coaches and trains parents to experience happier homes and more productive workplaces. Reach him at zaid@smartparents.com.my.