The story, published in THE STAR last week concerning a mother charged with negligence after her two-year-old child fell into a pot of hot soup, is another sterling example of why you should never allow a child to do an adult's job.

The article spoke of how the mother must have had some errand to attend to and left the child's slightly older sibling to watch over him. While out, the older child seemingly got hungry, but mommy was not around to attend to that. So what did the lad do? He took the pot of soup off the stove and placed it on the floor in a bid to get something to eat.

Unfortunately, the two-year-old child fell into the pot of soup, suffering burns to his hands, back and head. The somewhat soothing part of the story is that the child is still alive. However, there have been stories published in the past showing that the young victims did not enjoy this leisure. Instead, they ended up being burnt to death, like the case of that fire in Majesty Gardens last year.

Let this be a reminder to all the parents out there that there is really no foretelling the future and that random, irrevocable and tragic events often strike when we least expect them and does so quite quickly.

So then, let us all try being proactive and protective parents as opposed to dabbling with risks and chances.