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Eyes on the child

Posted on 21 August 2014 - 07:32pm

The original article from The Sun Daily,  can be accessed via the link below.

http://www.thesundaily.my/node/268567

ANOTHER senseless death of a four-year-old left in a car for eight hours; a horrible way to die, from thermal injury. I am writing not so much to apportion blame but to ask all of us who have children and those that transport children to develop good habits. Twenty minutes in full sun in a closed vehicle is all that is needed to kill a young child. Prolonged exposure of over one to two hours will result in some organs even being liquefied.

We must appreciate the mechanism of this tragedy. It is usually a young child, almost always under six years of age, who has fallen asleep in the back of the car. The parent or carer experiences a "break in routine" resulting in a loss of habit, eg a different parent sending the child to kindergarten or got a call for a change in venue of a meeting. The key factor is a distracted parent, one who has too much on the mind and is rushing to complete many tasks in a busy day. We have all been there many times.

We need to develop firm and consistent habits to prevent this happening to our children. Do not assume it will not happen to your child.

The way forward in this busy world is reminders. Here are some suggestions:

First, keep an important item in the back seat with your child, an item that you cannot do without at a meeting, work or shopping (shopping basket, purse or briefcase). Some have even suggested leaving even your hand phone on the floorboard of the back seat but this will only work if you have your child in a car seat (where all children deserve to be for safety).

Second, keep an object in the front seat to remind you of your child, like a stuffed animal. Swap the child and the object when you place the child in the back seat and vice versa when you take your child out of the vehicle.

Third, remind your carer, babysitter or kindergarten teacher to call you if your child does not turn up at the correct time. This can serve as back-up safety net.

Fourth, it is our vital duty to stop whenever we see any child left alone in a car. Find out why and call the police if you cannot find the parents.

Finally, let's get our priorities right. We have become unwell with our fascination with social media, email, hand phones, extra work, deadlines and rushing around "to give your children a future". Cut back, do less, spend more time with your children. The future can wait.

Amar-Singh HSS

Ipoh

Question 1.

Write a summary based on the article given above.

Question 2.

State the factors that cause such tragedy ?

Question 3.

What  measures can be taken to avoid recurrence of the tragedy in the passage?