Please work hard to prevent child abuse

29.APR.11

Editor: As we proceed through “Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention” month, some people still do not appear to appreciate fully the need to avoid child abuse.{{more}} For example, I witnessed two male adults with a young boy child, maybe five years old. The child was given a lighted cigarette. It became a great pleasure for the child as he pulled in and blew out smoke through his mouth and nostrils. The adults were laughing heartily while the child did this. For them it’s a big joke. The child doesn’t know any better.

Don’t these adults know that they are really guilty of child abuse. “Oh, he’s enjoying it! He’s accustomed to that for a few weeks now,” the adults say. But don’t they know that the child’s health is being damaged? The adults stopped it eventually. They should not have done it in the first place.

EVERYONE needs to know that giving a child a cigarette, marijuana, or any other harmful substance, is really a form of child abuse. What does the Law specifically say about this?

I wish that Mr Campbell QC could make a comment on this in his “The Law and You” TV program. As adults, let’s work hard to avoid promoting child abuse. Let us prevent it in all its forms.



Simeon