She was a girl child, she was beautiful. Nani’s (Maternal grandparents) family was rejoiced. The Dadi’s (Paternal Grandparents) family was saddened. However, it hardly mattered; the parents were truly happy at her birth. She was their first child, the apple of their eye.
She smiled, she cried, she took everyone’s heart away with one look of hers. She was utterly-butterly cute.
She was tender, she was young, she was vulnerable, she was becoming beautiful day by day, and she was only twelve.
He touched her first; she avoided but did not have the courage to confide in somebody. She was scared, she was ashamed. He was a member of the family.
One day again, there was no one around. He did not stop. He went a step further.
She slapped him, and hit him with compass. She hit her Uncle. He was bleeding.
The family never got to know of the incident. She sobbed for some time and later told her mother. Tears dropped from her eyes. Her mother was stunned. She was proud of her daughter but angry with herself as well. She could not save her princess from child-abuse.
This is not just a story. Child abuse is a viral and these cases are being heard rampantly in our society. Sometimes it’s so difficult to protect our loved ones from the family members itself.
The best learning we can take from this:
- Make your child strong and independent decision maker.
- Develop a relationship of trust and faith so that you are the first one that she chooses to confide in.
- Make her over-protective and thoughtful about herself, she needs to understand and make out the difference between the good people and the bad ones.
- She should not be a meek one, let her stand up for her rights right from the tender age.
- Lastly, be watchful of her activities because let not others take advantage of her or your easy-going attitude.
A girl child, her journey is truly difficult.
Even before her birth, the grandparents, especially the Grandma prefers a baby-boy over her.
Some captured in the sonographer’s picture or pre-natal sex determination reports, fall prey to female foeticide.
When she is born, she is welcomed as the Goddess Laxmi of the house but very next moment she is reduced to being a liability, her dowry becomes a woe already.
When her brother is born, she is reduced to being a side member of the family and is made to sacrifice everything just because her baby brother can’t do without it.
She begins to grow, she flourishes, she becomes an object of fun, comments, vulgar remarks, etc. and the worst it takes the form of abuse, molest, rape. How pathetic?
And if she is lucky enough to escape it all, she can never save herself from the societal expectations.
Married or not married, why is it that only women have to go an extra mile to fulfill everyone’s expectation and then it is her who is held responsible for all that goes wrong in any one closely related to her. She is not born to take all the blames. She is an equal and deserves respect whether she wears a Saree or a Skirt.
Protection of girl child should not only be talked about, promoted, advertised because we have to restore the gender balance, but it should come from within. Don’t brag about it only to show-off among friends and family that you are absolutely fond of her, make her feel so too.
A girl child is special!!!
It’s one of the oldest saying -
A daughter is a daughter all her life.
A son is a son only till he gets his wife.
Engineer by Profession and an ABC by Passion, Manjulika Pramod would elaborate it as Artist, Blogger and a Crazy one for Books. Putting it other way round she loves to travel and write travelogues, she plays with colors to vent out her creative pangs. She is also an avid reader and out to spread the reading virus. She works with a telecom MNC and in little spare times, she reviews books and interviews authors. Manjulika has a story published in Chicken Soup for the Soul to her credit and you can catch her on her blog.
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A girl child is special and deserves even more love and affection.In Jews the child is declared a Jew only if his mother is a Jew:)That is what women deserve!!
Thanx for telling us about Jews. I was not aware of it.
The love, respect and concern for the girl child has to come from within.
Well written. Feel is more important.
Everyone needs to agree!!!
A child is a child. Girl or boy. Both are special in their own way. That mankind has come to abusing the helplessness and the love that children can bring is pointer to how low we have stooped to.
There is increasing awareness. Of both how vulnerable children are and how we must stand guard.
Thank you for sharing..
Thanx Kavi,
Very true Girl or a boy…
A child should be treated as a child…
“Married or not married, why is it that only women have to go an extra mile to fulfill everyone’s expectation”………………….very true.
U remember we always used to talk about our difficulties as a girl.
But Still I want to be a mother of a girl child because they are so special.
Wow…
So good to hear that you want to be a mother of a girl child….
Increasing incidents of Child abuse in our society in recent time have made every parent concerned; every parent is in condition of panic due to current mishaps with children, this is also creating distrust in human beings .Girls are not safe in any place now days & it is really a cause of worry for us as we cannot safeguard our children 24 hrs. .But I am determined to protect to my sweet heart at any cost in this hostile world
I know how fearful it is for parents these days…
In fact growing a child and keeping him/her safe is the toughest challenge…
Very well written…. Child sex abuse is the heinous most crime on earth. Women folk receive this secondary grade behavior till date everywhere. Every form in India ask us to put Father’s Name / Husband’s name however for male, it is not vice-versa
Thanx Mam…
We, the aware and educated one’s have to come forward to change the self-declared society norms…
I use my dad’s name even after my marriage and I am glad my husband hardly bothers about it.
You make a good point when you say a bond of trust needs to be developed with kids so that they can open and say what they feel and not sob in a corner. Also one needs to be very careful as we have reached a point in society when none can be trusted blindly.
This one is actually very essential because lately we hear most of the instances of closest members of the family taking advantage of the vulnerability of the children and parents.