It’s not a rare scenario: parents judging other parents just because judging is too easy compared to understanding the whole story. It is easy to point fingers and say, “bad parents!”.

Lately there had been many times I have thought of those words.

Here in the UAE, we are shocked at the recent spate of high-rise building deaths – people falling down off balconies. Children. Building codes and safety regulations had been discussed. True – windows of high rise buildings should not even open but seriously? Aren’t we missing a bigger piece of the puzzle here? The root cause of the problem?

Parental negligence.

Parents who left their 4 year old and 1 1/2 year old sleeping in their 14th floor apartment – with balcony door open to go shopping late at night. The 4 year old woke up, walked to the balcony and fell to her death.

A mom who left her 3 year old son while she went down, again, leaving doors/windows open.

Parents placing chairs in the balcony for children to climb on to, resulting in their deaths…

In these cases, how can not one judge and say “bad parents!”?

Many children have fallen to their deaths because they were left alone by parents. When this kind of news first I wished hard that Dubai would open its eyes and divert its attention to these parents instead of talking about building codes. Finally, the parents of the girl who recently died are going to be charged.

Losing a child is unimaginable. I just hope that families living in high rise buildings will be more careful with small children. Before pointing out building design, codes and whatnots, learn about safety first. Isn’t that common sense?

Photo credit: Gulf News