No one is too young to avoid tragedy.

According to a Chinese newspaper, the Nanyang Siang Pau, a 17-month old boy fell into a washing machine after he had accidentally turned it on. After tumbling into the washing machine he was 'washed' for two minutes before his mother heard his screams and went to the rescue.It was a Pakistani child living with his family in a Hong Kong flat. Fortunately, there was no internal injury, according to scans made by a hospital. But then, what about the trauma? What about the emotional aspect?

I want to record this as a reminder to all of us that everything can become a danger if we ourselves do not exercise care in our everyday lives. Who could have imagined that a child could accidentally start a washing machine? Why, even my grandmother would not know how to use one of these things. And why was the power supply not switched off? Without reading the above story, many would say, it is perfectly safe to leave the power on. But, as is often proclaimed, 'Truth is stranger than fiction' and the above story testifies to it.

And who would have thought a child as young as that could ever think of experimenting with a washing machine by hopping into it, after having to strenuously climb up one of the steep and slippery sides of a washing machine. Unbelievable but it happened! Truth is indeed stranger than any kind of fiction!

Of course, we have come across the more believable entry into our cold box, the refrigerator and possibly be trapped and frozen by that man-made North Pole. We have read of children being crushed by the wheels of the parent's vehicle. All these do and did happen. There is just no doubt about it! And the things that can bring about a tragedy look so harmless, nobody would have thought about it until it happens.

What does this teach us? It clearly shows that anything can become dangerous if we are careless and allow dangerous play or use of it. It also teaches us that fear is necessary in certain matters although some people might claim that we should not put fear into a child. Actually both groups- those against the use of fear and those who uses it are right. It all depends upon the situations involved.

For example, when it comes to playing with things like fire-crackers and fire, we ought to teach the pain and possible suffering from being burnt. We ought to teach caution. We should explain the right way to handle these things. Certain things ought not to be learned from experience. Our children would be better off learning from the experiences of those who have been unfortunate to have undergone it although we are sympathetic towards such unlucky ones.