WATCH: Dad recklessly leaves son to play on train track
A video showing a man on his phone and not paying full attention to his son, who is playing on a live train track, has gone viral. Have you spoken to your kid about road and train safety?
Train safety isn't just the responsibility of the transport department. It is also something parents have to teach their kids.
But that can be something that is often sidelined, considering not all kids have access to railways.
Nevertheless, we know that children model their parent's behaviour. Even when they are told not to do something, they instinctively do it as a way of testing and pushing the boundaries.
It comes as great concern to us that many parents (who we understand have to work and have commitments as adults) aren't fully present when parenting.
Why is it that we are so quick to get angry with caregivers or teachers when they neglect our kids, but when we do it, it's acceptable?
A fine but difficult question to answer. Because it forces us to be honest with ourselves, and that can be challenging at times.
This video has left many people online shocked as they saw a father recklessly leave his son to play on a train track.
The thing that got people irate was that the dad was on the phone, and his attention was not fully on his child.
Now to be fair, we cannot for certain say that the father was not paying attention to his kid, but we come back to the premise that kids mimic or mirror our actions.
So, if in fact he was not paying attention in that moment, when there was no train coming, what if the child thought it okay to play there and did it in future when there was a train coming?
Not ideal, but a possibility. This is why we wanted to share the video, because as much as this story didn't end in tragedy, thankfully, not all stories have good endings.
What was even more scary was the camera also caught footage of others using the cross path, and amongst them were a group of kids without any adults present.
Be aware, if you have to take the phone call, then make sure you are in a safe setting and your kid is supervised by a responsible person.
It only takes a second for something to go wrong and to save ourselves the heartache of that, let's choose to be more conscious and aware when we are parenting.
Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.
Image Credit: Pexels