Bags can be dangerous to children.

Children are creative. They explore. The go into places no adult would want or dare to go. Because of that we must watch out for children at play.

It is not just bags that present danger to children. Actually, many things are dangerous. Even children playing at hide and seek might want to hide in narrow spaces, spaces too narrow to come out of. This year alone, I have read of two children, each from a different country, squeeze themselves into tiny openings between two walls or partitions to hide themselves from their playmates to find themselves unable to get out of the places. The authorities had to be summoned to help with their axes and hammers.

Coming back to the topic of bags, there was the kid who had this plastic bag which he thought could be used to cover himself. Fate was unkind to him and the parents found the poor child suffocated.

The other day, a friend told me about a neighbour who left her two children in the house while she went elsewhere. The younger sibling decided to hide from the sister by entering a big bag and somehow managed to close it. Or was it the sister who noticed him getting into the bag and closed him inside? This is more probable as it would be difficult to lock oneself in. Anyway, the sister panicked when she found she could not unlock the bag to get her brother out. Her screams of fear attracted the attention of this friend. He went to investigate and found the child locked inside the bag. And the bag was one of those which had combination locks which could only be opened if you know the numbers.

Unable to open the bag, this friend quickly phoned the neighbour to tell her the predicament. However, as she could not remember the combinations, the only way was to break open the bag with a big chisel. Fortunately, he managed to break it open for the young boy to escape from suffocation. The young boy was already weak and sweating by the time he was rescued.

Of course, anything that can be entered and become too difficult to escape from because the door can be too tight or locked is a danger to adventurous children. There was a case of a child trapped in a refrigerator. I cannot remember what happened after that but that is immaterial. The fact is such things can become a danger to our children.

Well, it is obvious that children ought to be taught the danger of playing with such things. Tell them about these things whenever there is news of such dangers. Direct their attention to such dangers and tell them the consequences. Explain to them what can possibly happen when children like them play with such things.

Some people say children are too young to learn such things. That is just not true. Children are clever and can understand such dangers if parents take the trouble to slowly and painstakingly explain with lots of examples how death can occur and what death means; the lost chance to see the siblings and parents as well as their friends, the lost chance to enjoy the many things in life. Use examples that they can understand. If they like ice-cream, tell them there will be no more opportuity to enjoy ice-cream. If they love their grandma, they not have the chance to be hugged and loved by their grandma. These are things children will understand.