Society, prepare your kids

Society, prepare your kids

Bringing up children is a difficult task for sure. Does not come with any manual, and every piece of advice given is so different from another. So how does one prepare the kids for the world, to make sure the kids are tough, resilient, safe and grow up to be successful adults?

What has triggered these questions is that in the last few days, a lot of news has re- surfaced about grooming gangs in the UK. These systematic gangs that had assaulted young girls and not one, not two, but thousands of them over the years. The fact that the UK claims to be a developed country, i was aghast and perplexed at the same time. 

Not just at the criminality and the horror of the acts, but also at the level of unpreparedness that the state had. For want of a better word, I use unpreparedness. Whether it was complicity, ignorance, deliberate brushing under the carpet, or simply failures at the part of the police, social services, government, or authorities, it is hard to know. One thing though, the kids were so- so vulnerable. Some from broken families, and some just gullible. Just thinking of what these kids and some parents endured at the hands of the monsters will make anyone puke and cry at the same time. Resources and links below - if you have the stomach to read these, please do - just to understand the gravity of what is being referred to.  

That begets the question- what else could have been done to avoid such horrendous crimes? Any step would be welcome, is it not? So then, how about preparing the kids also? Cautioning young kids that the world isn’t a very safe place and that they should not trust random people simply -is that too much to say? Could society, schools, parents and the education system warn their kids that there are lots of wicked people in the world too, even though it may come at the cost of planting distrust in young people’s minds? Is distrust in a child too much of a price to pay for their safety? In my opinion, never. Even at the cost of having a cautious generation, it seems well worth it - to keep the kids safe, better make them wary instead of gullible.

Lessons can start from home and school, showing how online and offline strangers can trick children and lure them with gifts and taxi rides. The dangers of drugs and alcohol, and how abuse starts, how to know abuse, and what to do if abuse still happens - all of these should perhaps be mandatory part of the curriculum. For, the world is a scary place, and nothing-I repeat, nothing of the past should ever be repeated. For each child, each life is precious, this society just owes it to the younger generation. As a reminder - we humans don’t own this world, we merely borrow it to pass on to the next generation. 

Finally, we owe a lot to the earth that has given us this life- the least we can do is to safeguard and protect all the young ones that will live here. 

With a huge wish - that  2025 brings in  a new world -one where safety and peace reign supreme !

Regards, 

Aina Rao, 

The amblingindian. Quirky reads on the blog www.amblingindian.com

Grooming gangs - Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal - Wikipedia

How the grooming gangs scandal was covered up

The harrowing true story behind BBC's Three Girls and how whistleblower Sara Rowbotham was moved to take action - Mirror Online