Prison for parents..!
Robert Clements
Saturday, January 21, 2012 - Last evening while driving to town, my driver hit a child. I rushed out and picked up the little two year old. Luckily she was unhurt. I handed her over to her dazed mother. “She just left my hand and ran across the road,” said the mother. I shook my head in anger and disbelief, “why weren’t you holding your child?” I asked.
She had no answer, and I got back into my car. A crowd gathered round my driver. “Don’t touch him,” I warned them, “go after the mother.” They nodded and went away. “Sir,” said my driver, “It wasn’t my fault.” I nodded. “No it wasn’t, the child was lucky you braked in time.” We drove away and as I looked out through the window, I saw hundreds of little children walking next to their parents, some of them walking on the wrong side, others not being held and some just holding onto the sari of the mother.
My driver was greatly disturbed and I had to gently talk to him and remind him that it was because of his quick reflexes that the child was saved. “But sir,” he said, “do such parents deserve to have children?” “Do such parents deserve to have children?” Do we deserve to have children if we can’t teach them well. Ever so often I hear of a couple who are trying to have a child but somehow or other nature seems to be dealing them a barren hand. I see the desperation in their eyes and know they would give anything to hold a baby they could call their own, and then I see others who seem to be running baby factories and manufacture them by the year. Why can’t those childless couples have a child I ponder and know I will never get an answer. What I have seen though is that when precious child is finally born to such waiting couple it does not guarantee that child will be brought up well.
Some of the most spoilt children I have seen are those born to parents who have waited awhile. Do they deserve the child they waited for? A child who with one scream or temper tantrum can bring the roof down and have mamma and papa offering the moon on a platter? Who will grow up spoilt and expect the same treatment from wife and friends, who if they do not give in to him or her will seek solace in liquor or drugs and be a menace to society..! How important it is to train our children. I remember my father. One day he decided that my brother and I were old enough to go to school alone. He traveled with us, a week, showed us how to get into the bus, how to get off, how to cross the road behind the bus and not in front of it and how to cross the road, looking to the right, than to the left, to the right again, then walk.
I remember him, teaching me punctuality; waiting at a local railway station and then pointing to the station clock sternly for being ten seconds late..! We drove in silence, my driver and I, and I wondered what would have happened had the child been injured. “Cops arrest speeding driver,” would have been tomorrow’s headlines. Maybe cops should start arresting parents. Put them in jail awhile for bringing up a spoilt brat, for not teaching them well. A few days in prison would help..!
—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com
She had no answer, and I got back into my car. A crowd gathered round my driver. “Don’t touch him,” I warned them, “go after the mother.” They nodded and went away. “Sir,” said my driver, “It wasn’t my fault.” I nodded. “No it wasn’t, the child was lucky you braked in time.” We drove away and as I looked out through the window, I saw hundreds of little children walking next to their parents, some of them walking on the wrong side, others not being held and some just holding onto the sari of the mother.
My driver was greatly disturbed and I had to gently talk to him and remind him that it was because of his quick reflexes that the child was saved. “But sir,” he said, “do such parents deserve to have children?” “Do such parents deserve to have children?” Do we deserve to have children if we can’t teach them well. Ever so often I hear of a couple who are trying to have a child but somehow or other nature seems to be dealing them a barren hand. I see the desperation in their eyes and know they would give anything to hold a baby they could call their own, and then I see others who seem to be running baby factories and manufacture them by the year. Why can’t those childless couples have a child I ponder and know I will never get an answer. What I have seen though is that when precious child is finally born to such waiting couple it does not guarantee that child will be brought up well.
Some of the most spoilt children I have seen are those born to parents who have waited awhile. Do they deserve the child they waited for? A child who with one scream or temper tantrum can bring the roof down and have mamma and papa offering the moon on a platter? Who will grow up spoilt and expect the same treatment from wife and friends, who if they do not give in to him or her will seek solace in liquor or drugs and be a menace to society..! How important it is to train our children. I remember my father. One day he decided that my brother and I were old enough to go to school alone. He traveled with us, a week, showed us how to get into the bus, how to get off, how to cross the road behind the bus and not in front of it and how to cross the road, looking to the right, than to the left, to the right again, then walk.
I remember him, teaching me punctuality; waiting at a local railway station and then pointing to the station clock sternly for being ten seconds late..! We drove in silence, my driver and I, and I wondered what would have happened had the child been injured. “Cops arrest speeding driver,” would have been tomorrow’s headlines. Maybe cops should start arresting parents. Put them in jail awhile for bringing up a spoilt brat, for not teaching them well. A few days in prison would help..!
—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com
Advertisement
Epaper
Advertise Here
Comments