Be Safe, My Precious....

Before I became a mom, I was in love with this world. I saw magic in every corner, and goodness in every single heart. I looked down upon those who always worried about the bad things in life, and was irritated with the doomsayers.

But motherhood changed my whole perspective. How could it not? Suddenly up became down, and right became wrong. My daughter’s safety became my Omni-present worry.  I found myself unable to relax around strangers when my daughter was around. I started looking at everyone with different eyes. At the back of my mind, I was judging every word, every nuance, every glance and every touch, of every single person she came in contact with. I don’t even change her diaper in public, for fear of the perverts who could be watching. This, sadly, has become my normal modus operandi.

I know what most of you, especially those who don’t have kids yet, will be thinking…”That’s such a sorry way to live. She needs to relax.” But at least some of you, especially moms of girl children, will understand me. Because I am only doing what they themselves are doing. I am nothing, but a reflection of their thoughts, worries and actions.

We would love to live in a different way. To let our daughters and sons board a school bus, or go to a shop nearby without any worries. We would love to let them live their lives in innocence, like we ourselves did…without having to teach a toddler about ‘stranger danger’, and ‘good touch and bad touch’.  We know we are slowly, but surely stealing away their innocence. 

Image by Hyena Reality/
freedigitalphotos.net

But how can we relax when our babies are not even safe in schools? Recent developments in Bangalore have just underlined this fear. I can’t (and don’t want to) even imagine what that 6-yr old girls' family, and that poor baby must be going through. How do we fight against the whole world? How do we keep our precious babies safe? We definitely can’t keep them locked up in ivory towers, but who can we appoint as their guardian angels? Who can we send with them, to always be with them, and to always keep them safe? What do we do, when the guardian angels are the ones we need to fear the most?!!!!