Always Keep Your Mind and Your Eyes on Your Child

A child is dead and a dad is behind bars – sad story that one would not wish to hear. When I am walking about with my social worker’s mindset and I observe a parent walking in front with a child behind, it automatically rings the alarm bell. This parent does not take 100% charge of the child. Those are certain criteria that the child welfare worker considers when investigating the family environment. Very often you hear that a child is dead from heat exposure after having been left in the vehicle by a parent. Your heart is tearing apart thinking about the suffering that such a child must have gone through to meet his or her demise. And, such incidents that could have been averted.

This father James Koryor, as reported by NBC News, is arrested on “suspicion of manslaughter and child abuse…” It obviously appears to be a case of negligence of him. Detectives revealed that he went to the liquor store, “bought a bottle of gin, drank it on the way home and fell asleep inside his house.” All along, there were two children of his in his care. At the end, the younger one, 2 years old, was found unconscious in the vehicle and died in the hospital. His 5-year-old brother either exited by himself or taken by his father. Surely one could detect gross negligence here. The father went out to buy liquor with his children, he got drunk on the way home with the children still in the vehicle, he lost his sanity, and he abandoned his responsibility of the children. According to the police, the younger child "struggled to get out of the vehicle before dying."

Now, even though this father was overly negligent, we all still need to take note. For, in many other cases we have heard relatively sane and stable individuals who have forgotten their kids in vehicles and who have suffered the same ill fate. We are living in a highly pressurized and even inflated society. People are usually on the run, and occupied by a multitude of activities. People’s minds are often full with worries about all different types of concerns about life. And often time, it gets to some certain degree that people have lost control. Perhaps you and I have already developed the skills that would keep us away from such a tragedy. Yet, we must have a message for the others. Always keep your mind and your eyes on your children.

As the social worker, it beeps when I observe a child walking behind the parent. When I say that your eye should always be on your child, I mean that you have a certain attitude that you must develop to make sure that you cannot forget your child. Number one would obviously be to not get drunk with your child in the car. Number two, which must in reality be number one, you should keep such a close watch on your child that the possibility that you could forget him in the car should be zero. When I am caring for a child, I automatically know that I am the protector of the child. (1) I know that I have to provide for this child in my care. (2) I know that there are things that I must refrain from doing with this child around. (3) I also give the child his limit, particularly of what he should stay away from and what he should not do. And, we all would be safe. 

When relatives in the home asked the older sibling for the smaller one, he responded that he was sleeping. They automatically assumed that the child was in a room somewhere.  With your mind and your eyes on your child, it is very unlikely that you would undertake any activities, allow the child to undertake any such activities, or to forget the child long enough for such preventable tragedy to occur. The lesson to learn is. Do not assume. Make sure to check and verify when you are not sure. We don't want to waste our little love ones.

  

E.C. Granmoun is the author of "The Social Worker" ebook on amazon.com 
Join E.C. Granmoun on Facebook and Twitter