If you want to be a babysitter, you must first take care of yourself.

To take care of children, first of all, teachers must know how to keep themselves, keep their minds pure, be patient with their crying and keep their hands from turning into fists.

We often say “babysitting” - a simple, rustic term but containing a great deal of trust: Giving your child to someone else to take care of and educate is like putting your whole little world in the hands of the babysitter. However, that trust is increasingly being eroded as images of child abuse in preschool environments continue to hit the public like a cold slap.

There is no need to repeat the details of the haunting clips extracted from classroom cameras - from Quang Nam, Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi . Public opinion had not yet calmed down from one incident when another one occurred, even more brutal. Children were slapped, grabbed by the neck, and kicked down. The more you watch, the more you suffocate. The more you read, the more indignant you become.

Meanwhile, the greatest helplessness of a child is not being able to resist, not being able to call for help and even more painful - not being able to recount what he has experienced. That makes many incidents only discovered after parents review the camera or when the child's injuries have become obvious. So how many cases have never been discovered, how many cries have died behind the classroom door?

A child abuse case occurred in Quang Nam province.

Why can people who are trained in education and are given the responsibility of looking after and raising children behave like that? They use the excuses of “work pressure”, “children disobey”, “lost control at that time”, etc. to justify their crimes. These are reasons that cannot and will never be accepted. What right do adults have to use violence against children, when they are the ones who hold the power and knowledge? If you cannot control your personal feelings and do not have enough professional ethics, please do not look after children!

Not only children suffer the consequences, but also parents lose faith in schools. Honest teachers are implicated, their reputations are damaged. An already stressful preschool education sector is now even more distorted in the eyes of the people.

In Gia Lai, where many schools are in remote areas with limited supervision, the worry is even greater. As a parent with a 1.5-year-old son, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh (Pleiku City) confided: "Every time I want to take my child to daycare to have time to work, I read information about child abuse cases happening in the classroom. Then I think about how young my child is and how to tell, what should I do if he is unfortunately abused. Because I think a lot and worry a lot, I still don't dare to send my child to class."

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong Ly - another parent in Chu Se district (Gia Lai province) said: "In the city, some classes have cameras, but in the district, most do not. If a child shows signs of abuse, the teacher will only be warned if there is no clear evidence. From there, fear and suspicion always exist in every parent like us."

In addition, many kind preschool teachers also feel offended. Ms. Tran Thi Thuy (Pleiku City) shared: “Some people do wrong, causing the whole profession to be looked at with suspicion. We truly love children, but the pressure from prejudice makes the job even more difficult.”

Obviously, we cannot let these “bad apples” continue to destroy the entire preschool education sector. We need a strict personnel screening system, both in terms of capacity and ethics. We need an independent inspection mechanism and regular monitoring - not only in big cities but also in remote areas. And especially, there must be appropriate, deterrent, and uncompromising punishments.

Keeping children is not about “keeping them from running away” but about keeping them safe, keeping their dignity, keeping their right to be loved. And to do that, adults - from teachers to administrators - must first know how to keep themselves. Keep their hearts pure. Keep their patience with crying. Keep their hands from turning into fists. And keep the preschool environment truly a place to sow love, not fear.

Master - Lawyer Le Dinh Quoc - Gia Lai Provincial Bar Association said: Child abuse is understood as acts that cause both physical and mental harm to children.

In which, physical violence is the act of using force with the purpose of causing injury or harm to the health of others. Mental violence is also known as emotional violence, psychological violence. Acts of mental violence can include: cursing, humiliating with harsh, harsh words; causing constant psychological pressure or other actions that cause mental injury.

According to Clause 3, Article 6 of the 2016 Law on Children, violence against children is one of the prohibited acts. Therefore, acts of violence against children will be handled according to the provisions of law. Depending on the level of violation, acts of violence against children may be subject to administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution.

Hien Mai

Source: https://congthuong.vn/muon-lam-nghe-giu-tre-truoc-tien-can-phai-giu-minh-383942.html