When in Public Places

We don't usually leave Gibran alone in public places. If H and I are going to be occupied (like during our walking/jogging sessions), we'd leave Gib and his cousins and the maids at the playground so that they would be under adults' supervision. We try not to leave him alone at home too because he'd go looking for some "projects" if we leave him alone too long. But I can foresee the possibility of leaving him alone to his own devices for longer periods of time as he gets older of course.

Today however, I witnessed something that I take as a lesson-to-be-learned.

I was at a park in KD, trying to get in at least 20 minutes of brisk-walking (hold your horses, ladies, I work out for the sake of the spinal problems and not on a mission to lose weight.. hehehee) ... when we were on our cooling down round, we spotted a girl crying her head off while staring into the far-side of the park while holding her shoes in her hands. A woman holding on to two kids, and another woman who was walking ahead of us stopped to talk to the girl and at first I thought they were consoling a troubled preschooler (the girl looked about 4 or 5 yrs old), and then I realised that the little girl was on her own and the women were trying to coax her to talk.

"Eh... dia ni hilang Mak dia ke..?" I asked.

The woman with two kids in tow said; "A'ah la. Dia kata dia nak Baba dia. Mummy dia takde, kat rumah, dia kata. Macam mana ni ye? Kita nak bawak dia jumpa park guard ke..?"

"Alamak... camne ye... " I replied. While H and I contemplated for a few seconds, the little girl started running up the hill and the whole bunch of us followed suit!

"Mana bapak dia? Takkan lah bapak dia tinggalkan dia sorang-sorang???" Asked another father who had joined the crowd trailing after the little girl.

The girl could run, I tell ya. H had to go into a trot to catch up with her. And H's got long legs. I was of course left behind. She was heading up a path which led away from the park and onto the sidewalk along the main road. I was starting to wonder if we should just grab her because I didn't want her to get into any sort of accident!

Then we saw a man standing up the path by the main road, gesturing to her (she was still screaming and crying at the top of her lungs calling out for "Babaaaaaa!!!!!!!!! Babaa!!!!!!!!!!!!") and a boy who looked about 11 years old (probably the older brother) walking towards her and calling out; "Mana kau pergi tadi..?!"

Phew. The small crowd that jogged behind her stopped and heaved a sigh of utter relief. When we turned back to our respective businesses, I could see conversations starting in small groups of people and the look of disbelief and relief on everyone's faces.

Yes of course we being humans are tempted to judge but nope, I don't want to judge for fear that karma could/would come biting me one day in the arse. I'd rather take a lesson out of this.

Never ever leave your kid alone in public places. Even if you think he/she will stay in that one place and wait for you, better safe than sorry.

I can imagine the dad leaving the kid at the playground (she had her shoes off so was probably climbing on the playground bars or something) while he goes for a jog, but a kid being a kid... five minutes may seem ages to them. So.. better to leave someone by the kid's side.. just in case. My Dad does this really well. He'd plant himself on a park bench and announce to his grandkids; "Atuk duduk sini tau. Atuk tak pergi mana-mana. If anything you can find me here."

God knows what age is safe to leave your kid alone to monitor him/herself in public places. What do you think?

On a different note, I'm sincerely glad to see that in our society where so many bad things happen everyday.. there are still many good people out there who truly care and would do the right thing. Praise God.

And going off-tangent, I remember when I lost my Dad during a pasar malam one fine Friday when I was about 6 years old. I was twirling around-and-round-and-round while Dad was buying fruits. Then when I stopped, Dad wasn't there anymore. I asked the fruit-seller where my Dad was, and she said "Dah hilang bapak lah tu! Dah.. dah... jangan pergi mana-mana.. duduk sini dengan makcik.. nanti bapak datang balik lah tu." And yes, I'm one of those lucky ones because Dad came back. Dad said the whole thing happened in less than 5 minutes, but for me it seemed like a lifetime then.

Things look different when you're a kid. A minute seems to tick by slowly.

So.. stay safe, people.