You Vs Pedophiles

This year alone I can't count how many times I've heard on the radio and television the number of children that have been molested. Obviously this menace is on the increase and I can't explain why. Probably it's been there all along and there was no tangible channel of creating awareness, maybe we have the social media to thank today.  

Rape or molestation used to be blamed on women's indecent dressing and at the end of the day you have the perpetrators going scot free. Now I sure would love for someone to explain why majority of the victims now fall within the 1-15 age category, would indecent dressing be blamed as well?

I believe it's time we start acknowledging the fact that we have a lot of mentally ill people who masquerade as normal people. In the western world, it’s quite easy to identify a psychologically imbalanced people and treat their case accordingly. In a country like Nigeria where we lack the right instrument of detection, what happens to us?

On Sunday, my Pastor talked about how counseling groups sent to schools discovered a sexual trend in Lagos. I can’t speak for other states because it wasn’t a holistic finding, but they have on record that children as low as 3 years old are aware of sex, girls as low as 5-7 years are being molested by a whole street of boys, and when these girls try to talk to their mothers about this they are waved aside because you and I believe there’s no way children that young would be that exposed.

How protected is your child? Being a responsible parent is not just about feeding, clothing and paying school fees, it goes beyond these. How far have you gone to protect your child? emotionally, psychologically and physical wise? How smart are you to detect changes in your child’s pattern of behaviour? How do you intend safeguarding your child against this new sexual trend? 

Like they always say, charity begins at home, who do you surround your child with?  Where does your child go to when not with you? Who do you allow them visit? Who do you allow them escort on errands? Before you blame government’s ineffective punitive measures on perpetrators, do your bit by creating an enabling environment for your children so it never gets to that level.