I am not one to judge how people raise their own children or how they treat them when they are in the comfort of their own homes.
I mean, honestly, this has nothing to do with me and I wouldn’t say I deserve the world’s best parent of the year medal or anything of that sort for that matter.
But sometimes we are forced not to turn a blind on some of the events we are exposed to in the public space.
I recently came across a video of a young girl (she must be between the ages of 10 and 11) with her young mother in a supermarket, stealing a purse from an elderly woman’s handbag.
From the video, it is evident that the girl is well trained and knows what it is expected of her to successfully complete the mission.
The mother is seen trying to distract the elderly shopper from what is happening behind her as the girl is slipping her sticky and fast fingers inside the shopper’s handbag and pulling out the purse.
The girl then walks away with the purse looking like the man of the match after scoring the winning goal.
The mother is then seen following her to the door, minding her own business.
All this is captured on the store’s cameras.
I was troubled by these events after watching the video because now, as a country, we are up in arms trying to fight the lawlessness of our children and now we have a little girl who is being taught how to become the best pickpocket.
Is she going to end it here and only do it in the presence of the mother or will she see this as an easy way to make money and continue to steal for a living?
A colleague argued that with the high rate of unemployment and not knowing the family’s financial status, we should try to understand why they might be doing this.
I get where she is coming from, I really do, but are we now going to use that excuse for teaching our children that it is okay to break the law?
If she truly believed this is an easy way to make money to put food on the table, why doesn’t she do it alone and save this little girl from a life of being scarred for life?
What if one day they get caught, which is very likely, she gets arrested and the child is placed into juvenile detention and blames and hates the mother for the rest of her?
Is this worth the risk?
What happened to the old adage “mma ngwana o tshwara thipa ka bogaleng”, which is loosely translated as the mother holds the knife by the blade?
Growing up, we saw mothers who wake up in the early hours of the morning to sell fat cakes and fruits by the side of the road to help put their children through school.
Are we really the generation that doesn’t want to work hard but prefers overnight wealth to the point that we steal and drag our children into it?
I really think before we try to fix the country we should first fix ourselves as parents.
After all, children walk in our footsteps.
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