Protecting your child

It has been a while since my last post. Gosh! It has been a little crazy; taking care of my very active, energetic 5 year old boy and being heavily pregnant, dealing with the different physical & emotional feelings that come with it.
To be honest, it can be pretty challenging sometimes but I will say I am totally grateful for my blessings.

Now to the topic of this post. As a parent, one tends to worry about a lot of things when it comes to your child(ren). The right meals to feed them, the right school, their health and safety; the list goes on.

For me, I must say I am overly protective of my son, Ashioma to a fault that my husband sometimes says I am paranoid and I totally accept.

I recently read a sad, horrifying story online about a male school teacher in the USA, who violated his 5 year old girl pupil. The teacher denied such happening and said he was only playing an innocent game of tickling. The intelligent little girl was able to narrate the ordeal to her father who then reported the case to the police. The teacher has been arrested and awaits his time in court. Similar incidences have also recorded in Nigeria.

I honestly cannot comprehend how someone appointed/ assigned to care for an innocent child would betray that trust and become the 'enemy'.

This brings me to the very important issue of safety of our children. How do we as parents keep our children protected within and especially outside our homes?

For Carl and I, when it came to enrolling our son into school we decided to wait till he was able to talk well, understand situations and relate them back to us. Being the 'paranoid' mum that I am, I even went over possible situations (innocently too) with him and how he should report to any other authority if mummy and daddy weren't there. And each day when he returned from school, I would ask how his day went and he would tell me exactly.

One day, when his dad and I went to pick him up from school we noticed he was pretty upset and quiet. We waited till we got home (which was like 5 minutes away) and asked him how his day went, his reponse shocked us. 'One of my teachers hit me', he said.  He then went on to narrate what happened. Apparently, she had asked the kids to be quite as they played in class and when they continued with their noise she reached for the one closest to her and hit him. That so happened to be my 'BamBam'. These were children aged 2-3 years. What sort of noise would warrant hitting any of them? The next day, we reported the incident to the school head who investigated. First the teacher denied it happening but later confessed, saying she had had a bad day. Seriously? Whatever happened to the 'naughty corner'? She apologised to us and BamBam, promising it would never happen again. Trust me, I kept a close eye on her till BamBam moved to the next class.

That is one incident out of a bunch in relation to this. What about the nannies we leave our children with? Does anyone still remember the nanny from hell in Kenya who mercilessly beat up a 2 year old girl (Oh! That nannycam video was heartbreaking) or the nanny who tried breastfeeding her madam's baby? It can be pretty scary. But like a friend once said, 'they are necessary evil'.

So how do we go about protecting our children?  Here are some of my tips:

a) Teach your child to know the difference between what is right and wrong.
b) Encourage your child to be vocal.
c) Ask how their day went at school or home (if you are not around) and get them to narrate events if possible.
d) Strike some kind of relationship with your child's minder; both at school and home. This is necessary.
e) Always ask your child's minder about the events of the day. Compare with your child's version.
f) Believe in/ believe your child.
g) A Nannycam is not a bad investment.

Got tips? Do share in your comments.