A mall is not kid's playground.
A mall is not children's playground
Exercise restraint over your children and remain vigilant about their activities in public places — it's better to be safe than sorry
By Avinash Sequeira, Gulf News ReaderPublished: 00:00 January 12, 2012
Reader comments (18)
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Image Credit: Dana A. Shams/Gulf News
Parents must not leave their children to roam around in electronics stores while they have coffee with friends. Shop attendants are not babysitters.
I work in a prominent mall in Dubai as a customer service representative and have, on numerous occasions, witnessed parents being very lax about their children's safety.
Escalators, no matter how slow they work, are not toys. I have witnessed so many children getting injured because they think it is a toy. Do parents not notice the danger? Many escalators have a yellow line on each step. There is a reason for this and you are supposed to stay in between those lines instead of playing on the steps. Teach your children that.
There have been several instances where a child runs up on to an escalator the wrong way and someone has to pull them off. Many times, these children shout out to their parents who smile back proudly as though it is a feat. It is extremely dangerous and a drop from that height can also result in death.
When you go to a mall, do not leave your children in electronic shops just because they have video games and movies on display. This is another incident that occurs a lot. The shop attendants are not there to babysit your child while you shop or have coffee with your friends. Many a time, the children get tired and are brought to the security guards by the attendants because the parents have just left them there. It is wrong.
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Also, when you go to a mall, it is advisable to have your child carry your mobile number, by writing it on a piece of paper and putting it in his or her pocket. The security can then contact you in case your child is lost. With the recent news stories about the abuse of children, you never know if a predator might be waiting for an opportunity in a big mall. Teach your children not to talk to strangers and, instead, speak to people in uniform in case they are lost.
The mall's security is available to make your shopping experience comfortable, but leaving your child behind to watch an event and then forgetting about them does not give you permission to vent your frustration on a security officer. Yelling at them is not going to make the situation better. A mall does everything to ensure that your child is found in case they get lost. Being patient will help the security do their job better.
Another thing is you should not let your child play next to the water fountains as it only takes a few seconds for an accident to occur. The child could slip and get hurt. Parents should constantly watch their children and make sure that they are nearby. This also means watching your children when they are throwing bottles from upper floors. It is very dangerous and people can get hurt.
All the incidents that I have mentioned above are real ones. I have seen them happen on a daily basis. I request parents to be more careful and teach their children that they should behave the same way as you would expect them to at home. It will go a long way in ensuring that your children are safe in a mall.
The reader is a customer service representative based in Dubai.
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this drives me bonkers! I was eating out recently, and a group of kids, all under 10, from a nearby table spent the entire meal racing up and down between the tables, yelling, screaming, and thumping up and down, knocking into elbows and tables of other diners. When my friend I was with got nailed, she stopped the lead kid in this game of tag and told them other people were trying to eat and would like to do it without being in the middle of a playground. THAT'S when mum and dad finally stepped in, but not to control the ruly bunch: to yell at my friend for telling their kid off!
I also once was in a coffee shop, and saw a man having coffee with a friend and his son. the son was clearly bored, and being ignored by dad completely. He started jumping around from chair to chair, and his antics knocked into a nearby shelf and caused a glass french press to fall to the ground and shatter. I was then treated to the lovely sight of Dad telling off the shop assistant for having 'dangerous items so close to the edge', then claiming to the manager that it wasn't his fault or his sons fault, and so he wasn't going to pay for the item his kid broke. In between, he proudly bragged to his friend about how you had to be firm with shop staff.
UGGGG.
Arab, Indian, Oriental or Western, it depends on the individual, family and their sets of values and upbringing..
if their parents are Arabs and Indians........no wonder!!
lmao
Elegance: you should loose some weight. Just sayin!
at Food Court in CC.
A group of 5-6 children under the age of ten teasing a sales lady while she was having her lunch. When she tried to shoo them off, they become more resistant and climb the dinning table.
My hubby took a bamboo stick from the bucket and gave nice hits on the bum of a kid who kept on torturing our little daughter, in a Shop..The mother who was right in front never bothered..I think they like outsourcing disciplining their kids to strangers...
A kid shot a soccer ball and almost hit my 3yr daughter in the face.
I asked the kid to please stop the horse playing and this 10yr old with his cocky attitude told me "are you going to make me do it?"
I simply told this kid that I was interested in having a conversation with his father, and then he ran away.
at - min your post had me in tears!
I think the worst is the kids running with shopping carts in Carrefour. One bangs into me and he'll end up being strained through the wires!
Mandi
Last week I saw two kids bagging brassieres of different kinds on to the trolley in Lulu..The filipino sales lady shooed them and kept back the bras in their places...The father left sheepishly after leaving the kids for the poor sales lady to manage..I really wonder whether a shoplifting was going on while the sales lady was babysitting... :-) :-(
This is true, parents need to be accountable.
The horrors! Parents would take their 5 to 7 children for shopping and don't care to mind them inside the supermarket. At one time, I have to stop a kid from opening bottles of shampoo and pouring the contents on the shelf. The mother was just standing next to the child. On another occasion, a child took a chocolate bar from the shelf and pocketed it. The mother saw it but when they reached the counter she didn't pay for it. It's all about upbringing the children.
I tend not to go to malls during the weekends , these kids are frigging annoying , running around , bumping on folks ....
BE A PARENT!
You hit a raw nerve regarding the emergency button on escalators. This happened to Chocoholic and I last month. We were stuck on the escalator for nearly an hour till security came and restarted it :o(
murk da town!
Its too hot to play outside most of the year. Where else do you take them..:(
It Comes from his Worst Experience & Deep Feelings
I love the kids on scooters in Villagio. These are not brand new scooters that were just purchased, parents bring scooters for the kids to ride while walking down the mall. Seriously???
Or the kids who think it's funny to hit the emergency button on the escalators. That has happened twice and we all almost fell down and broke our necks. Whenever I ride escalators now, I hold on for dear life.
Elegance...lol....that is something new..:)
They call it "skilled kids." Just like the monkeys driving a Landcruiser on two wheels. Skilled!
so true.
especially the escalators. dunno how careless parents can be.
have witnessed kids running in the opposite direction on the escalator with parents encouraging
so true indeed.
Some parents train the kids to be street smart by allowing them to flick food and grapes from the mall or trade center as if a buffet has been especially laid for them...
Many parents buy food from the counters in the mall and conveniently dispose the packets with bills stuck on it, before they reach the counter..
I saw a lady snatching sweets from a trade center shop and walking away as if it is her birth right..
Notice the ferocious looking security standing guard in front of the grapes in Lulu and Carrefour...
So true and they carry this attitude even when they travel by leaving kids out early in the morn who start playing with the door bells of other guests.
Worst are the sprogs wearing those wheelie shoes and whizzing around your ankles :o(
And the way these tiny rascals appear from nowhere and head in the direction of your trolley....At times I regret not having more eyes on my back, sides and on the toes...