Teach children the dangers of playing with possibly dangerous objects.

One day when I was in a hospital to accompany my son who had dengue fever, a young boy of approximately seven years of age, was admitted with a twenty cent coin in his esophagus. As a result, he could not eat and had difficulty drinking. Every now and then, he had the urge to spit out saliva.
His condition was due to his playfulness. After buying an ice-cream he had a twenty cent coin in his hand. He saw somebody toss a peanut into the air and caught the tossed peanut in his mouth. This young boy imitated the action. He flipped his coin into the air and caught it with his open mouth. The coin went right into his throat. He felt uncomfortable but was unable to retrieve his coin. By the time he told his mother who took him to the hospital, the coin had gone down his esophagus. He was put into a ward to have surgeons try to retrieve it with a scope. However, it was easier to send the coin down into the stomach. According to the mother, the boy was told to wait until the coin exits the body through his anus. In the meantime, the boy had to fast; with the exception of water, no food was to be taken by the hungry boy. It looks like the condition itself was a punishment for the child.
Well, that was the result of playing with objects that may present a danger to our children. Parents have to tell or prevent their children from such a dangerous occurrence.
But, then even more dangerous things have been allowed by parents. During festival time, we have read of children playing with fire-crackers. This is an item banned in Malaysia. Yet, no authority seemed to be bothered even though the sound of them is enough to notify everybody of their availability. Well, it is still easily bought. Even children can get them. They play with them creatively, with innovation. They stuff the powder into bottles or plastic pipes before igniting the powder, sometimes blowing up their fingers or hands in the process.
Hopitalised with missing fingers, such children are in some disabled. If only the authorities are more conscientious, if nobody had sold them such things, if parents had taught them the dangers; those children would have remain safe.
When it comes to playing dangerously, parents should use real-life everyday examples to illustrate to the children what can possibly happen. Let them know the consequences so that they need not have to learn them the hard way.
For example, if we were to come across the coin-swallowing case, we could point out to our child the danger. Tell our child how the coin-swallower would have to suffer unnecessary hunger. Point out to our child the consequences of such an act. It could have lead to pain, fear and finally, possible suffocation. It could take some time before the coin could exit from the body. He would have to stay in the hospital, away from friends, away from school and away from happiness.
When it comes to pictures and stories in the newspapers of missing fingers due to misadventure with fire-crackers, use the pictures and the stories as visual aids to indicate the tragic consequences. We can even get our children to think of the possibility of life deprived of fingers. By teaching them, our children will certainly avoid playing with such dangerous objects.