The mother was feeding the restless child near the open passage window. With the child cranky and kicking, she tries to hold on to the plate and the kid. In the melee, the child slips and falls down 9 floors.  Many highrises these days do not have grills installed by the builder.

The first reaction of many readers may have been, how can the mother be so careless? It is easy to tut tut while reading the report. But how many of us are mindful of the dangers of daily life that we put the children through?  

We often see children playing on the terrace near low parapets. On the roads, adults do not always hold on to the child’s hand. Often the child is on the traffic side instead of the kerb-side.  

Bike riders place small children who can barely hold on to the handle bars, on the fuel tank. They often are drowsy or fall asleep. Sometimes the pillion riding kids sit in the reverse, facing the traffic at the back. Of course no kid is made to wear a helmet.

Even in cars, we let small children sit in the front seat or even in the driver’s lap. Youngsters underage are allowed to drive bikes on the streets.  School students are stuffed like sardines into autos and school vans without safety concerns.

We let the kids to browse the internet without installing parental control security software.  

We mollycoddle children at home, but are so careless about their safety in the world.