KNOCKING SENSE

Some parents are careless about children’s safety

IWAS shopping at a popular mall in Kuala Lumpur recently when I heard an announcement on a missing child. According to the announcement, the child, who was found wandering alone, looked about 3 years old. The lady on the public address system was describing his physical features and appearance in hopes that his parents would collect him at the information counter.

This was not the first time I had encountered something like this.

Some weeks back, I was about to walk into a hypermarket when I noticed a guard, a foreigner, carrying a local-looking child. He told the lady manning the information counter that the child was crying alone.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I asked them what was going on. In broken Bahasa Malaysia, the guard said the poor girl had been crying non-stop in the toys’ section and her parents were nowhere in sight.

He, who looked visibly upset, brought her to the information counter so that an announcement could be made to find her parents. All of us shook our heads in displeasure and exasperation at her parents’ lack of responsibility before I walked away. Moments later, I heard the announcement on the PA system.

Honestly, I am disappointed at how some parents can be so careless in watching over their children. We are not living in a world where nothing untoward would happen to an unsupervised child. We are not living among people who would never hurt a child if given the opportunity. We are not living in a time when a child can be left alone without worry.

Every day, we hear reports of kidnapping, rape, abuse and murders of children. Are these reports not enough to make one afraid of neglecting their child in public places?

How is it possible that some parents do not care if their child