Prevention is Better Than Cure

I receive this in an e-mail on the creativity of advertisement. For those who can't read the text on the paper bag it says "Reach out to children with autism". I'm no expert in the subject of children with autism, so this post is not about this (maybe later after more research...); but rather it's more on my thoughts that this same advert can be used to encourage parents to take better care of their children - especially in Malaysia.

We have had several cases of children being kidnapped & yet it baffles me that parents continue to be so negligent as to allow their children to roam free unattended / attended by another minor in public places.

It saddens me to see multiple posters distributed over various mediums - TV, newspapers, magazines etc when the child went missing. Worse was having to read the newspaper that some paedophile / some very very sick people sexually abuse and/or kill the child (I can't imagine the feeling of the parent when even a stranger like me has such strong feelings).

As in most cases, Prevention is Always Better Than Cure. What's the point of pleading on TV & crying our eyes out over the poor child who has been cruelly taken / separated from their parent, when the basic preventive steps are not practiced. It is 1 thing to take all the precautions & the event still occurs vs. the event occurs as a result of our negligence.

The second point to ponder is child safety on the road. It is alarming to find children walking unattended at main roads packed with traffic. Many are left to cycle along with the cars speeding just beside the child! Though I agree strongly that children should learn to be independant, but taking on the streets alone is just too scary; what with the number of speeding cars & motorcycles on the road. For the sake of saving time / the cost of a parking ticket, many school-going children had to cross the road unattended as well.

So, in my opinion, the same paper bag could be used to advocate 2 things to increase awareness among parents & child alike:
1. Always hold your child / keep your child within eyes range when in public places

2. Always hold your child when crossing the road

In this days & times, it's always better to take extra precautions rather than regret later for not taking the preventive actions.