In the second case, a mother gave in to her four year old son’s demands and let him buy a plastic flute. The boy removed one of the three 2 inch plastic parts that produced the sound and while blowing swallowed it. In spite of his mother giving banana to induce the plastic piece to come out along with faeces it did not. As the boy had fever and breathing problem, he was taken to children’s hospital at Chennai where doctors tried to remove the piece through bronchoscope. The plastic piece embedded in the lung travelling through the wind pipe instead of food pipe where tissue also had grown around it. After nearly a year later, doctors decided to remove it through surgery. Now after the erosion of the entire left lung and a small part of the right one, the piece was removed. The boy though will be able to lead a normal life, will be finding it very difficult in case he contracts respiratory infections. I had already written in an article under www.bukisa.com about rearing of children. 

There is nothing wrong to be affectionate to one’s child and ensure it enjoys full freedom in its activities. But not the way it likes, unless it is matured well to know what is good or bad for it. It is the duty of the parents to ensure that the child is brought up well to know this. They should know when to say a firm “No”. Unfortunately some countries like the USA, the UK etc do not give a free hand to parents resulting in the children going astray. It is high time that all the good measures in whatever parts of the world are emulated by all the countries and children are shaped to become worthy for the family, the society and he country. This is like avoiding calamities before an economic recession by studying the systems in various countries that never faced such a situation (instead of blaming countries like India and China for the escalation of oil prices while consuming the maximum oil themselves) and not by waking up to realities after the damages are done by wrong systems. Here there is a word of caution. While being stern, ensure that you are also kind and compassionate as not to instil an inherent fear in the child that causes stammering later. Allow the child to mix up with everyone well but at the same time teach it what is good for it and what it should avoid. The child should be able to respect you by your behaviour and obey but not out of fear. Never allow the child to cultivate a habit of getting things done through crying. Similarly never give it any money to buy whatever it wants. To avoid disturbance, some parents try to silence their children by bribing them with things they demand. This is a very very bad habit and would spoil the child. Narrate the stories of children who did not heed the good advices of elders and later ran into trouble such as the above instance. Let the child clearly know what it should do and what it should not.

While concluding, I wish to stress on sincerity in whatever we do, be it an individual, a parent, a government official, an organiser et al. Never compromise with your duty and allow negligence to overtake you. All the mishaps occur due to carelessness, insincerity, lethargy and negligence. Avoid these so that at least you do not become a cause for the harm caused to an individual.