The wishes of a father

ON rare occasions, I take my five-year-old daughter to the shopping complex. It’s a father and daughter thing. But the moment she steps out of the car, I will hold her hand.

Going to the toilet is out of the question for me. If she has to go to the toilet, I will have to take her to the male toilet because I cannot enter the female toilet.

When she uses her hands to touch things that catch her eye, I have to let go of her hand.

When I let go of her hand, I’ll keep my eyes on her and try not to be distracted by the happenings around me.

However, due to movement of people and activities she will not always be in my line of sight.

What is supposed to be spending quality time with my daughter is more than a stressful time for me.

And I am only taking care of one child who is not prone to wandering on her own. The alternative is to keep her at home. When I was a child, children were allowed to wander in the neighbourhood. In fact, it was encouraged by their parents to prevent a ruckus at home.

Once the children learnt to ride a bicycle, it would be practically impossible to keep track of their whereabouts.

In fact, the adults could have a good afternoon nap with the house doors wide open and the children out somewhere. That is childhood as it should be. Criminals should be in handcuffs, not children handcuffed to their parents.

Alas! Today the criminals and potential criminals seem to be everywhere.

They are in the shopping areas, in the car parks, in the highway rest areas, at the petrol stations, the children’s playground and so on.

I don’t pretend to have all the solutions to resolve this problem, but I do have several things to say about it.

The police should religiously pursue criminals. Some crimes may take years to solve or may never be solved.

But a large police database and sufficient competent manpower to analyse the data can help in the success rate.

One of the common reasons people don’t report to the police when they see suspicious characters is because they are afraid that those investigated will take revenge on them later on. This issue has to be addressed.

In schools, where troubled children appear, the social worker can visit their homes to make an assessment, and to coach their parents if necessary. Follow up visits are a must.

The police can be on the lookout for suspicious characters. This can be done by mingling with the crowds.

The postman can offer valuable help in reporting abnormal activities they observe during their rounds. The police can also make house-to-house visits to get feedback.

The parents and the community are not experts in crime prevention.

The country has tens of thousands of full-time crime fighting and crime prevention experts.

I am not expecting utopia, just an enjoyable time window shopping with my daughter. LD Ipoh