Keeping Our Children Safe

I’m no parent, and I can honestly agree that I know half the anxiety and pressure a parent is under when taking care and educating their children; however, I am an Aunt of 9, and I take pride in saying that I have influenced most of them (some were born with a head on their shoulders! Masha’Allah).

Now that I’ve told you my family tree, I’ll explain why.

I live in a small, quiet town in Kuwait and I love it. We have an embassy and country offices in this small town. We have a stadium, banks, and a huge co-op, but what we don’t have are parents who watch out for their kids and what they are doing.

One of the things I like doing in my town is walking, and the town recently opened a new garden for children to play. The garden has a basketball court, swings, and other children’s toys. The garden wasn’t open 6 months before I found graffiti all over the basketball court’s walls and on the toys supplied by our government.

Our town’s high school just had a new wall erected around it, and as I was driving to work the other day, yup you guessed it, GRAFITTI!

Want more? A couple of years ago, I was in my car on my way home. School was out, and as I was turning in to my drive way when these kids just charged in the middle of the street on their bikes without looking right or left. I nearly hit two of them. I didn’t get angry. I called the eldest and sweetly asked him to be careful, to take care of each other, and that I don’t want them to get hurt.

Later on that day I was on my way home again with a friend. My friend was driving and the same kids walked right in front of us. I had had it by this time. I wasn’t about to have a child’s death on my hands, so I got out of the car and started screaming at all of them. You know what they did? They just walked off. A gentleman even got out of a neighboring diwaniya and started doing the same. We were both on our last nerve. Now ask me, was there a maid present at any of these events? No. Were there any parents around? No. Were some of the kids younger than 6? YES!

Another shocking story: The night my sister got married, my brother and I were on our way home when we saw a baby boy (max. 3 years old) out on the street. We picked him up. My brother dropped me home and he went from house to house asking whom this kid belonged too. Again, where were the parents? It was 3a.m. for goodness sakes???

And my latest frustration, I did mention I love walking in my town, especially in cool weather with my iPod blasting. We have a couple of new houses being built on our main street, and as I was passing by the construction site two kids crawled from under the construction walls and ran like little mice. I was so shocked and scared beyond belief. What if something had happened to them? What if one had slipped and fell through the iron spikes they have set up?

My plea is not only to the parents but also to our men in uniform, the police. Keep a look out for kids astray and vandalism, and formally inform the justice system and the parents of the children you catch.

And PLEASE parents! Pay attention to the kids. If you’re exhausted send them to your sister or brother, or even your mother’s house to play, but don’t neglect them, and please parents don’t let your kids learn about vandalism. Let’s keep our country clean and our children safe.