Dubai Forums Dubai Discussions Dubai General Chat

So far 20 kids have fallen from high storey windows this year in the UAE alone which must raise questions about the parenting skills and common sense related to safety.

Everytime I look at Gulf News in the last few weeks another kid is in the headlines and I keep thinking, surely not another one but yes it is.

This is only in the UAE does this also happen on so frequent a basis in the sub continent countries but is rarely reported?

What should happen with the neglectful parents?

Is it the same mentallity that positions kids in the front seat of a car without a seatbelt? Same conclusion when compared!

Yes, it most probably happens a lot in other countries also where the buildings and/or regulations are old and outdated.
I've had some pretty close calls myself of not realising that a hotel window is free to open just by leaning against it.
Sometimes I wonder if Alah interveined.
But for parents who know the dangers, I don't think there is any excuse.

That must be an awful feeling seeing your child falling from a great height, and worse so if you didn't actually push them.
When we lived in Singapore I was just a kid and I remember the maid (i think we called them armers or something in those days) next door, slinging a matress over the fourth storey balcony and the child climbing up and sitting astride it like he was riding a horse. My mother nearly passed out when she went out on to our balcony.

And there was the case of little Connor Clapton, who ran into the living area of their penhouse and ran straight through the window which the cleaner had left open to clean. There was certainly a lot of 'Tears In Heaven' for him.

Moral of the story is don't let the slave look after the kids.

It;s got nothing to do with nannies looking after the children, it's to do with parents not taking responsibility. Many of these children were left on their own! Why aren't windows having restrictors put on them, or why are they even allowed to open at all?

Why do you call the nanny a slave?

Chocoholic wrote:It;s got nothing to do with nannies looking after the children, it's to do with parents not taking responsibility. Many of these children were left on their own! Why aren't windows having restrictors put on them, or why are they even allowed to open at all?

Exactly, responsibility and accountability only the parents.

It is due to neglect and being a lazy parent. These parents would have been prosecuted in the US. People in the US are reported to child services for less and they are investigated.

In one case with the boy in Sharjah the father was working, I believe in Abu Dhabi, and I recall reading that he was going to be charged as well. If you have to leave the apartment and the child is sleeping, you bundle the child up and take him/her with you. I also recall that the parents of one of the child that fell from the balcony had gone out to do shopping or something. It's about time they start charging parents with child/criminal neglect.

I have no pity for these parents who left their child unattended and what they will have to live with for the rest of the lives. They get to live and the child didn't.

Chocoholic wrote:It;s got nothing to do with nannies looking after the children, it's to do with parents not taking responsibility. Many of these children were left on their own! Why aren't windows having restrictors put on them, or why are they even allowed to open at all?

I would say that nannies looking after the children and parents taking responsibility is one and the same thing. If the children are left on their own it's a different matter. There are a load of dangers a child may face if left on their own, apart from windows.

-- Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:24 am --

Yosef wrote:Why do you call the nanny a slave?

Isn't that what they are Yosef? they do the cleaning, the cooking, looking after the kids and service the husband. That's a slave in my book.

Do the ignorant parents that I see diving every day in Dubai ever take a few seconds to compare falling vertically or the same speed of a child being propelled through a window from a car?

Oops sorry, thickos are in numb land so silly question.

Well kids are sinless , rest assured they are in a better place, On the other hand , these incidents will haunt the parents, and drive them to insanity

drewpeacock wrote:Do the ignorant parents that I see diving every day in Dubai ever take a few seconds to compare falling vertically or the same speed of a child being propelled through a window from a car?

Oops sorry, thickos are in numb land so silly question.

I do hope you meant 'driving' Drew!

What Drew says is true, however, we do have to bear in mind that many of us come from countries where we've had education and awareness campaigns for years and people are punished for neglect. Did we wear seat belts etc in the70's and early 80's? er nope. You forget that this country is ONLY 40 years old.

Things are changing and getting better thanks to awareness campaigns and education - sadly mostly run by expats, but with the backing of the police.

Sadly there is nothing you will do to ever change the 'Inshallah' attitude that some people have. But then that could backfire on them, because apparently if you have the knowledge and the means to prevent harm, you're a sinner for no doing so.

Chocoholic wrote:What Drew says is true, however, we do have to bear in mind that many of us come from countries where we've had education and awareness campaigns for years and people are punished for neglect. Did we wear seat belts etc in the70's and early 80's? er nope. You forget that this country is ONLY 40 years old.

I think you mean the United Arab Emirates is only 40 years old Chocs.
Dubai has been around for a lot longer than that.

It isn't only some locals who choose not to wear seat belts.

To be perfectly honest I hate wearing a seat belt and I've only done so it the last few years as I wouldn't dream of letting Beth out in a car without making sure she was belted up. I can hardly insist she wears a seat belt when I don't.
I was actually stopped by the Police a few years ago for not wearing one and he was that stropping I refused his offer of a fine and penalty points.
I was taken to Court and got off. He said when he stopped me my seat belt was lying on my lap.
That was a big fib. Hadn't he heard of Inertia reel seat belts? Mine was firmly tucked away.

I'm a reformed character now and obey the law of the land.