The Oberoi Mall Episode

So Oberoi Mall has apologized, and the little one is back to the play area. While that is nice, I don’t think it’s enough. The scariest part of the article, to my mind, was the fact that ‘other children were scared of her’ and that ‘some parents had complained’. While it is awesome that the mall was taught a lesson, I think this episode reeks of gross parenting. And, I fear, this is not limited to those parents who visit the Oberoi Mall. What kind of parents are we if our kid says, “Look ma, what a scary girl!” and we rush to the authorities? All it takes is for us to say, “No, child. She just looks a bit different. But I think she would make a cool playmate. Why don’t we go check if she wants to play ball?” Better still, “Hey I’ve got two bars of chocolate in my bag. Come make friends with her, and you can both have a bar each. The least we can do in the name of inculcating values is teach our children that all kids are cool, no matter what they look like.