Letter to the Editor | Parents must not abuse, ill-treat or torture their children since they were the ones who wished to bring a child into the world

Dear Editor,

I am saddened and perplexed by the family tragedy, “Father of 5-year-old boy who died from abuse gets life sentence, mother convicted of murder after appeal” (TODAY, July 12).

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “Even a vicious tigress will never eat her own cubs”. Thus, it is important for us to draw lessons from this unfortunate, pitiful tragedy:

1. Every child is a precious gift to parents. Hence, every child matters. This is especially important for Singapore, as its total fertility rate in 2021 was 1.23 births per woman.

2. Regardless of any medical, health and intellectual conditions of a child, parents must not abuse, ill-treat or torture him/her since they wish to bring a child into the world.

3. If a parent, unfortunately, had any unhappy encounters or misfortune in the past, he or she or the close relatives of the parent should seek help from health professionals so that whatever pressures they have can be duly relieved, instead of throwing tantrums upon their innocent children and hurt their hearts.

4. If any family households or single-parent households have any financial difficulties, they should feel free to approach their member of parliament or social workers for assistance.

Doing so will help them in resolving their living dilemma/plight to some extent.

Teo Kueh Liang

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of The Independent Singapore.