| Anything can happen when your child is walking home alone. Since you can't be with your children 24-7, it's best to equip them with the knowledge to protect themselves. |
| Anything can happen when your child is walking home alone. Since you can't be with your children 24-7, it's best to equip them with the knowledge to protect themselves. |
Anything can happen when your child is walking home alone. Since you can't be with your children 24-7, it's best to equip them with the knowledge to protect themselves.
| Anything can happen when your child is walking home alone. Since you can't be with your children 24-7, it's best to equip them with the knowledge to protect themselves. |
“You might think that your buddy is a good listener (and this leads you to reveal information about your family) but you don't know that your buddy is passing on the information to a third party. So, the buddy system can be good or bad depending on how reliable and trustworthy the friend is.”
He advises parents to ensure their children share their problems with the family. Often parents don't know what happens when their child is at school.
“Most of the time the family doesn't know what the children are up to. All they know is the child is in their room, on Facebook, on the computer …. Children have their stresses and own sets of problems which to adults is rubbish. When you are sitting on the problem you can't see it. When you step out of it, then you can see it's a small problem,” he says.
Citing an example, Bala says that a little girl who was molested in the kindergarten recently didn't dare tell her family because she was threatened. She was warned she would lose her pencil box if she told anyone.
To that girl, losing her pencil box was a big issue.
Bala emphasises the need for parents to groom their children to be more alert and street smart.
A child who grows up near Jalan San Peng, Kuala Lumpur, and has to interact with tougher kids and adults is bound to be more street smart than one who grew up in a protected environment where he is chauffeured around.
“We need to give children ideas and groom them on what they can do and how they can survive in situations. Talk to your kids about crimes that you read in the newspaper and discuss with them what went wrong, how that victim could have protected themselves and options for safety.”
He says, children need to want to survive and do what it takes to survive. This means shouting, screaming or even biting and kicking if that is what it takes to break free from an abductor.
To Be Continue......
He advises parents to ensure their children share their problems with the family. Often parents don't know what happens when their child is at school.
“Most of the time the family doesn't know what the children are up to. All they know is the child is in their room, on Facebook, on the computer …. Children have their stresses and own sets of problems which to adults is rubbish. When you are sitting on the problem you can't see it. When you step out of it, then you can see it's a small problem,” he says.
Citing an example, Bala says that a little girl who was molested in the kindergarten recently didn't dare tell her family because she was threatened. She was warned she would lose her pencil box if she told anyone.
To that girl, losing her pencil box was a big issue.
Bala emphasises the need for parents to groom their children to be more alert and street smart.
A child who grows up near Jalan San Peng, Kuala Lumpur, and has to interact with tougher kids and adults is bound to be more street smart than one who grew up in a protected environment where he is chauffeured around.
“We need to give children ideas and groom them on what they can do and how they can survive in situations. Talk to your kids about crimes that you read in the newspaper and discuss with them what went wrong, how that victim could have protected themselves and options for safety.”
He says, children need to want to survive and do what it takes to survive. This means shouting, screaming or even biting and kicking if that is what it takes to break free from an abductor.
To Be Continue......
By BRIGITTE ROZARIO
Not a day goes by that we don't read about some horrific crime involving a child in the newspapers or online. Rather than locking up our children, it might be better if we equipped them with the knowledge they need to stay safe.
Safety activist and chairman of the Malaysian Volunteer Fire & Rescue Association Capt K. Bala explains that while we cannot stop our children from going out, we can monitor them.
“Let them go out but have a family member go along to monitor them. Maybe they can go out with their mum or older sister.
“Monitor them, support them and tell them which areas are dangerous and what possibly could happen to them,” he says.
Although the buddy system is used a lot in everything we do, Bala warns of choosing the wrong buddy.
“How reliable is this buddy?” he asks.
Not a day goes by that we don't read about some horrific crime involving a child in the newspapers or online. Rather than locking up our children, it might be better if we equipped them with the knowledge they need to stay safe.
Safety activist and chairman of the Malaysian Volunteer Fire & Rescue Association Capt K. Bala explains that while we cannot stop our children from going out, we can monitor them.
“Let them go out but have a family member go along to monitor them. Maybe they can go out with their mum or older sister.
“Monitor them, support them and tell them which areas are dangerous and what possibly could happen to them,” he says.
Although the buddy system is used a lot in everything we do, Bala warns of choosing the wrong buddy.
“How reliable is this buddy?” he asks.
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