THE EDITOR: It is very disheartening to learn of the weekly loss of young innocent lives, sometimes no fault of the children. As a matter of fact, almost all the deaths and loss of normal bodily functions are the fault of adults.

Recently we in small TT, with a small population of just 1.4 million, have been hearing of the deaths of children (some infants and toddlers) by various means. We have heard of children being shot by stray bullets, mangled to death by dogs, burnt in house fires, drowned, ingested poison, choked on their own vomit and, recently, choking on a chenette seed.

It is very saddening to learn that these children who do not know danger and are of course very curious, as they are now discovering the world around them, lose their lives at such an early age.

Now this is not to point fingers at anyone or to lay blame. It is certain that the parents – and other relatives – of these children are going through serious reflection, grief and trauma at the loss of their offspring. I share the grief and suffering of these parents and of the family members.

But at the same time we must remember that children are the responsibility of their parents. Parents and caregivers have to ensure that the little ones are supervised at all times. Even if they are in the house, in their bedrooms and indeed in the family swimming pool in the yard. Yes, we have learnt of a child drowning in a bucket of water. This is because children are very curious and do not know fully the dangers of all the elements which make up our environment.

Today children are spending less time outdoors and more indoors with the invasion of electronic devices in their lives. Yet there are more child fatalities than a few decades ago. Why is this so? The answer is simple and lies in the well-known refrain that "it takes a village to raise a child."

In years gone by, the entire neighbourhood, the entire village looked after the well-being of a child and everyone respected the authority of any adult who "corrected" the behaviour of a deviant child. But that has all changed as we "modernise" and with it, unfortunately, we have thrown out the "baby with the bathwater."

WKS HOSEIN

Chaguanas

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