A domestic helper sparked criticism of alleged child abuse in mid-September after she was filmed putting her arms around the neck of a kindergarten pupil, picking him up off the ground and carrying him across the road by his neck. What is your view on this?
Holding the neck of the child is not the proper action applying to our wards. Never, never hold on their necks to avoid misunderstanding from the public. Maintaining discipline is our job but we should do it gently and patiently, like by holding their hands properly. Trust is very important, and we must be trustworthy in everything we do so that good relationship with our employer will continue.
— Elsie Caylan
In my humble opinion, we cannot just quickly judge. But it is a warning to us that we should be very careful when we take care of our employers’ children. The video just showed the left side of the helper’s hand and the boy seems okay. She may not intend to hurt the boy but at the same time she was just not careful enough on how to carry a child in a proper way. With this video I hope it brought attention to helpers to be extra gentle to our wards. In my experience on crossing the road with a child, I always hold his or her hand. I don’t let go until I feel that the child is safe as I am responsible for her or his safety.
— Melody Novillas Ilajay
We should always bear in mind the virtue of “patience” in taking care of our wards. Let’s always accompany it with prayers. And always think of doing good work so that we can earn others’ trust. Don’t be easily carried away by our emotions in facing our everyday works. Always think of our future and our family too. Always seek guidance of our Almighty God in everything we do.
—— Irene Lucena
Maybe the said helper had no intention of harming her ward. but she failed to execute it in the proper way. On the other hand, we can’t blame the netizens for criticising the worker since they were only concerned about the child. However, we also need to hear the side of the helper.
This incident is a reminder for us to be careful in handling such situations. Be alert and flexible. We have to put God as the centre of everything we do for us to be guided at all times. — Liz Marasigan
We should never judge a person after watching a video on the Internet. In this case, when we watch the video without context, it is actually horrible to imagine what happened. But upon further thought, I think that the incident is an outcome of a misunderstanding. What the helper did, even done unintentionally, was perhaps misinterpreted by the viewers as there were no prior explanation on the side of the helper.
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Yet in the future, we must all be guided about the lesson that this case had brought us: be responsible enough in all ways and maintain presence of mind.
— Rodalyn Miguel
I don’t want to judge her actions during that time because I don’t really know the real story behind it. Maybe the boy did not want to go to school. But as a domestic helper we should be very careful when taking care of the children of our employer as well as the elderly. Our work is not easy, as usually we are always in a hurry because of multi-tasking work. Besides that, we also struggle with emotional issues due to some stressful situations in our life. That’s why we should be patient and be mindful of our moods. Children will always be children. They are depending on us and we are responsible to take care of them. Remember that in case bad things happen to them we’re the ones being blamed.
— Lorna Luz Tuburan
