Two stories that recently surfaced should cause any parent to sit upright and take notice.
Firstly, it was the shocking story of the 13-month-old missing Brackendowns baby who was found in Windmill Park, after he went missing for several days.
Five suspects were arrested for the kidnapping of Eden Laird.
The search started when it was reported to police that the domestic helper had taken the child from his home for a walk.
The child was eventually, and thankfully, found alive in Windmill Park. The domestic worker was also arrested.
While the court case is ongoing, it may appear that the kidnapping was all about money because the sum of R6-million was asked for the safe return of the baby.
The SAPS also cautioned members of the public against recklessly employing people without conducting the necessary background checks.
Then there was another story, up north in Africa, when Ugandan authorities were left to hunt for a leopard after it had snatched and eaten the three-year-old son of a female ranger from the popular Queen Elizabeth National Park.
The boy had been left in the care of a nanny at the unfenced staff quarters of a safari lodge in the park, when he was taken by the leopard.
These are two shocking stories of children not being kept safe by their caregivers. And so I have to wonder: Do parents still have complete peace of mind when they leave their child with a nanny or a caregiver all day at times and for most of the week?
After all, time after time, social media shows how some kind of brutality is being exercised against children by their caregiver. Time after time you hear awful stories about child neglect or abuse, which leave us bewildered and angry
The constant barrage of negativity has even caused some people to abandon social media completely.
In the case of baby Eden, the SAPS has again stressed the importance of asking for certain information before employing a domestic worker or child caregiver. Yes, a potential employer has the right to verify information given to him or her.
To be brutally honest, my child has never been left in the care of a nanny or a caregiver except when he attended preschool.
Of course, he has been in the care of a family member, but very occasionally and just for a few hours. Beyond that, we have never used babysitters, nor have we chosen anybody to ‘keep an eye’ on him.
Call me paranoid, but the reality is that we live in a crazy time. Whom can you really trust? In the shadows lurk the ‘leopards’, those who feel so very little for the sanctity of new life.
Sometimes we just have to think about what we are doing. How times do we place our child’s safety into the hands of a stranger?
Sure, not all caregivers or nanny’s will inflict harm or resort to kidnapping, but the reality is that only a parent truly cherishes a particular child. Yes, sadly some parents have even forsaken the sacred duty or responsibility of providing and protecting their child.
Let us be honest. No one who is not the parent of that child will ever be as cautious or be as alert or be as careful as the parent. That is the bottom line.
Yet we live a fast-paced, crazy world where more and more children are being left in the care of non-parents. Sure, we might say the caregiver has been employed for a long time, or that person can be trusted, but the reality is that these are dark and foreboding times.
Have we really paused and considered the implications of allowing our children to be taken care of and raised by strangers? Money talks loudly and human trafficking is rife.
Each and every parent, of course, has the right to decide and choose how to raise his or her children, but the dangers of children being subjected to caregivers who don’t think twice about lifting a hand, are constantly being highlighted.
Maybe it is time that we pause, consider and reflect on the safety of our children and how we raise them. I am saying this as a concerned parent, for we live in a dangerous, volatile and untrustworthy world.
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