Let children be children

When I was 14, I couldn't wait to finish school so that I could be off to play badminton, netball, volleyball, tennis, cards, marbles, or any other games that we would invent on the spot.

Sometimes we would cycle to far away places and explore untrodden paths, pretend we were police and robbers, princesses and dragons, pirates and swashbuckling adventurers, Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, you name it!

Sometimes we would just hang out and watch movies or tv, read a detective story, or make up silly songs and sing at the top of our lungs to the annoyance of our neighbours.  

My ambition at that time was to be a renegade pilot of an F-16 plane. My greatest fear was having to show my father my report card. I dreaded school, piano lessons, and anything remotely resembling discipline.

That was indeed a happy time. I enjoyed my childhood. Every minute of it.

And so it pains me to know that some people think it is ok to rob a child out of his or her childhood, innocence, dreams and adventures. After all, we are only young once. Let children be children. There is no need to rush and be an adult. There is plenty of time for that.

We once thought that the Earth was flat. We now know better. We once thought that the sun went around the Earth. We now know better. We once thought that child marriages were the norm. We now know better. Or do we?