Baby trapped in tumble dryer after 'joke' goes wrong

How stupid can parents be?

Until the next time, cheers.

Baby trapped in tumble dryer after 'joke' goes wrong

May 23, 2012

 
NEW YORK - Security camera footage captures the moment a toddler is placed inside a laundrette tumble dryer "as a joke" before the machine is inadvertedly switched on.

CCTV from the store in the United States shows a couple loading a tumble dryer. When the woman's back is turned, the man picks up his child and hides it among the laundry before closing the door.

The auto-lock on the machine's door activates the tumble dryer, preventing the shocked father from retrieving his son, The Daily Telegraph reported.

As the machine begins its cycle, the parents frantically try to shut it down. After a minute of panic, an attendant turns off the power allowing the couple to retrieve their child before making a hasty dash for the exit.

The child is reported to have survived its ordeal with only minor bruising. AGENCIES

Quick-thinking mum saves kid from abduction

Whenever I read or hear of such stories, I get goose pimples. There are really so many weirdos loose out there and you can't even leave small children by themselves for a few minutes. I can imagine the fear of the parents. Thank God that in this case, it ended well.

If a perpetrator is caught, shall we consider castration, perhaps?

Until the next time, cheers.

The New Straits Times, Monday, 14 November 2011

Quick-thinking mum saves kid

ABDUCTION FOILED Father chases man who tried to abduct his daughter in restaurant and helps police arrest suspect

ABDUCTION FOILED Father chases man who tried to abduct his daughter in restaurant and helps police arrest suspect

What was supposed to be an enjoyable family outing nearly turned into a nightmare for telecommunication company project manager Saifuddin Abu Samah on Saturday night.

He had taken his wife and four daughters out for dinner to a restaurant in Taman Melati Utama, near Wangsa Maju.

There a man  tried to abduct his 6-year-old daughter, Nur Farihah.

Saifuddin, 37, said they were walking towards their car parked just 70m from the restaurant, at  8.40pm, when the incident happened.

"I was walking in front with two of my older daughters, aged 12 and 10, carrying the fourth daughter, aged 4, while Farihah, my third daughter, who I thought was walking with my wife, was actually still in the restaurant.

"They were behind because my wife had to pick up the newspaper, which we had left in the restaurant. Farihah was, at that time,  fiddling with her toy, a couple of feet from my wife, when the guy approached, with his hands ready to grab her." he told the New Straits Times at his house in Setapak yesterday.

When Saifuddin's wife, Rohani Abdul Rauf, 37, saw this, she instantly called out her daughter's name. Both Farihah and the man turned to her.

The man then tried to act "normal" and started walking away, passing Saifuddin.

Only in the car  did she tell Saifuddin what had happened and her husband took it upon himself to find the man.

Saifuddin, realising the man was still there, circled the area three times before he spotted him at a Petronas station nearby.

He made a call to  the Wangsa Maju police station chief, Chief Inspector Mispani Hamdan, who is part of the Voluntary Patrolling Scheme (Skim Rondaan Sukarela-SRS) in Setapak, a community policing programme that conducts a patrol every fortnight -- where  Saifuddin is a participant.

Mispani asked him to follow the man, saying that he would send  policemen there. Saifuddin kept following the man as he walked to an Esso station,  100m away.

Saifuddin parked his car there and continued trailing him on foot to Kampung Setia Jaya, when three policemen arrived in a Proton Waja. Two of them joined him and they walked another 100m before detaining the man under a bridge at Block F of the Taman Melati Utama flats.

"I asked him where he was just now. He denied being at the restaurant area. I was furious and kept asking, then he admitted that he was there and had wanted to buy a top-up coupon for his phone," said Saifuddin.

Saifuddin was relieved that he had managed to protect his daughter and kept his family safe.

"I don't know what I would have done, if I had lost her (Farihah)."

Sentul police chief Assistant Commissioner of Police Zakaria Pagan said the suspect was a 33-year-old Cambodian,  who had been working legally in Malaysia for almost 10 years.

Zakaria praised Rohani for her quick reaction, and said her vigilance had not given   the man the chance to do anything to Farihah.

He advised parents to always be watchful over their children.

Police are also checking on information that the suspect had an accomplice, who was allegedly waiting in a yellow Proton Wira.

Those with any information are urged to contact Sentul police at 03 4042 2222.

This writer seem to read my mind perfectly and took the words right out of my mouth. How often we are guilty for being a parent that “give their children all that they never had” and then feel really guilty for spoiling them? Then again in other times, when we see them not appreciating the things that they have nagged them with "If you don’t appreciate your things, I’ll give them all to the poor children.”

But then again, the children now live in such a materialistic world. The bombartment that they get from the various media and peer pressure is really crazy. So, I suppose as parents, we must also cut them some slack about this. I am sure, we as parents are also caught up somewhat in this.

We must however, try our best to thankful for what they have and also sensitive to others who have less and not be envious of those that have more. Wow, I suppose this is a hard thing to do but then again whoever said that parenting is easy and neither is growing up!!

Until the next time, cheers.

Sunday Star, October 2, 2011

When less is more

By REBECCA CHIENG

Giving a child what she needs, not what she wants, teaches her appreciation.

 

I THINK affluence and gratitude have an inverse relationship. In all likelihood, the more one has and the more easily it is acquired, the less grateful one tends to be.

Take pencils, for example. When I was a child, my frugal mother bought only what was necessary and never threw anything away. So we would use our pencils until they were as short as my little pinky.

If I told mum my pencil was already too short, she would promptly put a pen cap on its tip and say: “There, you can still hold it. Don’t throw it away ... wasteful!”

So, in my pencil case, I had a lot of little, short pencils with pen caps on them. A new, long pencil was an item of luxury to me.

Many times in primary school, I would look enviously at my classmate who had beautiful, mechanical pencils kept in pink pencil boxes with buttons on them. Whenever she pressed the boxes, tiny drawers would pop out, yielding a sharpener or an eraser. It was the “cool” stationery to own then.

So, in the footsteps of parents who want to “give their children all that they never had”, I relish buying pencils and all kinds of stationery for my daughter. I get very excited when she receives stationery sets as birthday or Christmas gifts, party packs or door gifts.

“Yeah, Barbie/ Dora/ Hello Kitty/ Cinderella pencils!” I’d say to her. She is so lucky to have so many at her young age, I’d think, as I wonder if I should perhaps encourage her to pick up journal writing to make full use of them. I even ensure that her pencil case is always complete.

Imagine my vexation when I find pencils or erasers under her bed, in the living room and behind the couch, or missing when she needs to use them. My constant reminders escalate to nagging and then threats of, “If you don’t appreciate your things, I’ll give them all to the poor children.” But these backfired when she called my bluff by saying: “Mmm, OK, go ahead…” and nonchalantly returned to playing with her toy.

Back then, my mother would frequently say: “You children are so fortunate that you don’t even realise your own good fortune.” I am so tempted to repeat that phrase to my children when I see them using a stationery item once or twice, then discarding it, just so they can open a new set. Or, when they take a bite of a cookie, only to pass it to mummy or daddy because they want to take another.

Thankfulness does not lie in parroting the words “Thank you” just because parents nudge children to do so. It should be part of their attitude, instilled into them through daily habits like caring and being responsible for their possessions.

Thankfulness lies in not being picky about food, or fussy about the brand of their clothes or shoes. It is also about valuing the gifts received on special occasions instead of whining, “But all my friends have an iPad2 now!”

As one generation fares better than the one before it, the scale of appreciation also seems to decline. We, well-meaning parents who seldom deny our children what they want – let alone need – are perhaps unintentionally cultivating a generation of youths who feel that their blessings have become their entitlement.

Is it any wonder that by the time they are of employment age, many jobs in the market are “beneath them”, either because the salary is not high enough or they require too much hard work?

Therefore, what should we do to encourage an attitude of gratitude in our young ones?

Perhaps we should first take time to reexamine our own attitude of giving. It wouldn’t hurt to do what our parents did – give them only what they need and no more. We could also teach them to think about giving to others, not just some unseen “less fortunate soul”, but the people close to them – for doesn’t charity begin at home?

I hope we do not have to resort to boot camp treatment to have our children come running back to us, remorseful and filled with indebtedness.

Meanwhile, I’ll withhold all my daughter’s pencils for now and just give her one every year until she finishes university.

Generation gap remains

A good article which appeared a few weeks ago. I saved it but due to the heavy workload, I have not able to upload this. When you read this, you can't help but to relate to what is being said. Anyway, who ever said that parenting in easy and you don't "retire" from being a parent. So, it's a lifetime job. We can only pray that we have taught the kids enough to do well on their own. I do not been material wealth but that they are well grounded on differentiating right and wrong and also have some solid religious beliefs.

Until the next time, cheers.

The Star, 20 July 2011

TEENS & TWEENS By CHARIS PATRICK
 
THE generation gap was a term popularised in the West during the 1960s, referring to how older and younger generations have different interests and communication styles at any one moment in time.

This is especially evident between tweens or teens and their parents.

Generational differences have existed throughout history, accentuated by rapid cultural change during the modern era, particularly with respect to such matters as musical tastes, fashion, culture and politics. In fact, it is difficult to imagine a time when parents and their teens did not have such differences.

In today’s context, if we are parents of tweens or teens, we are likely late baby boomers (i.e. post-World War II, born in the 1960s) or Gen X (born in the early 1970s).

Our teens and tweens, on the other hand, belong to Gen Z or the Net Generation (born between the early 1990s and early 2000s). What is the implication?

Young people used to grow up quickly, taking care of key responsibilities at home. Now, we no longer need them to do essential chores like farming, carpentry, milking cows or rubber-tapping – jobs that gave them a sense of usefulness and worth.

Even when teens work part-time, their earnings are not usually necessary for their family’s survival. Hence, teens have no status and no recognised place in society. In fact, we require them to be dependent and regimented until they acquire the education they need to find jobs in a technology-oriented society.

Today’s fast-changing world differs in many ways from the one we grew up in. In the good old kampung days, we would entertain ourselves with simple games such as marbles and catching spiders. Or we’d climb trees or play hide-and-seek. No one owned a TV at home and if someone in the kampung eventually did (even if it was just a black-and-white set), that household would be crowded with people, for obvious reasons. Then came colour TV, followed by VCR, when we could select what we wanted to watch whenever we wanted to. The only “high-tech” machine probably in our possession was the manual typewriter and by then, we thought to ourselves: “We have arrived!”

Remember the days we felt it was so cool to dance down the street with a Walkman playing a cassette tape? Pager beeping and you had to find a public phone to return call? The day you bought your first handphone and it was big enough for the ladies to use as a self-defence weapon? The list goes on and I can almost hear what my teenage client used to tell me: “Yeah ... last time policemen wore shorts!”

Fast forward to the 21st century, our teens and tweens now occupy themselves with PSP and Wii. They not only have a TV at home but it’s a matter of how many (in the name of preserving family harmony, no one needs to fight over the channels!), how big and how flat the TV is. They have not acquainted themselves with video tapes or VCR because they watch movies from Blu-ray players and thumb drives. In fact, as I am writing, we are moving into the era of Internet TV.

“What are cassette tapes and pagers? Can they be eaten?” they wonder. They now download songs into an iPod and you will see them dancing hip hop along the way.

Back in the early days of the mobile phone, people envied those who were able to own a handphone: “Wow, you have a handphone!”; today, if you don’t own one, the reaction tends to be: “You mean you don’t have a handphone?” or “You haven’t upgraded to a smartphone yet?”

Gen Z or Net Gen are often raised in dual-income or single-parent families. Aided by the rapid expansion in cable TV channels, satellite radio, the Internet and e-zines, they are incredibly sophisticated, technology-wise, immune to most traditional marketing and sales pitches as they not only grew up with it all, they’ve seen it all and been exposed to it all since early childhood. They will be more Internet-savvy than their Gen Y (born in the 1980s) forerunners.

Indeed, times have changed. To intensify the gap, teens are out of balance at the same time their parents are struggling with their own mid-life pressures. While teens are dismayed by each new pimple, parents may be agonising over each new wrinkle. While teens are thinking of the time ahead and the opportunities it will bring, parents are beginning to think of time remaining and the opportunities that are diminishing. While teens are gradually acquiring personal power, parents are often beginning to confront their own limitations.

Is closing the gap ever possible? We will take a look at it in a fortnight.

Charis Patrick is a trainer and family life educator who is married with four children.