Near-misses happen, even to the most cautious of parents.

This video really hit me.

It’s not because I am a perfect mom who never screwed up, it’s otherwise.

I had a fair share of moments when I lost sight of Bella when we were out shopping.

Sometimes it was because she ran too fast and turned around a corner while I was struggling to catch up, or because she was mischievously playing around hiding under clothes, enjoying the sight of me looking after her.

I swear that my heart almost stopped every time I lost sight of her. It was just for a few seconds and I was already bracing myself for the worst.

Near-misses happen, even to the most cautious of parents. What is important is that we try our best. We try our best not to be negligent, because negligence can be avoided.

There was a time when I was at a playground during at my parent’s neighbourhood Hari Raya event. 

Kids were busy playing around the small compound, and adults were busy socializing with each other.

There was this one little girl, probably barely turned 1, playing by herself and busy trying to climb up the slides and the stairs. For her age I was pretty sure that she could end up hurting herself.

I wondered where her mom was. The girl was totally unmonitored; I had to ask around who her mom or dad was. None of the older kids knew and even the adults did not bother.

Out of concern, I tried to keep an eye on her as well as on Bella. Darn it, it was not my job, but I just could not bear the fact that if anything happened to her, it was totally avoidable.

After a while, I noticed her mom. She was so close to the play area, but she was busy chatting with another lady. Chatting like there is no tomorrow and there is no child to watch over.

I was really furious, deep inside. What a negligent mother! Ughhh!!

I almost walked up to the mother and tell it to her face.

So you think that there are a lot of people around, your children are safe? Think again! Not all people were as concerned as me, even some friends told me to just ignore if that happens again but I just couldn’t.

Sigh.

I hope I will not encounter this kind of situation again. I really hate to see these kinds of ignorance and negligence. It is not easy to take care of the kids but if we really prioritize and put necessary effort on it, we are already doing most of the job.

I also hope that people see the objective of this video and its message. It is really a clever campaign. If I was the parent who got that lollipop I probably would have cried.