h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sometimes you are brought to reality with a jolt.

Last week I was disturbed (but not overtly annoyed) by the sound of 'builders and welders' and - as I had surmised - there was yet another flat having a cage welded around balcony entrance to the front door. People here (in Casablanca) live in prisons - bars on the windows, bars on the doors all treble locked and bolted.

BUT

It now transpires that the work was not just done for the mortal fear of burglars, it was done to protect their five-year-old daughter from climbing on top of the washing machine (which lives on the balcony) and jumping over the wall into the yard below.

The Moroccan 'prison bar' syndrome is a particular bête noir of mine. The bars are never included in the design of new buildings and within weeks of a perfectly acceptable building being occupied, it is ruined by the addition of 'bars' all different for each and every flat.

One can debate the pros and cons of the need for bars on windows on the upper floors of blocks of flats for 'security' reasons. Arguing the toss is a complete waste of time, but you can do it if you have nothing better to do for a few hours.

But there is another reason given (by otherwise perfectly intelligent Moroccans), and that is that the children will jump out of the windows if there are no bars on them. You can point out that in Britain, the States and countries where few windows have bars other than prisons, one does not read daily reports of thousands of children all leaping to their deaths. It will also be a waste of breath and effort - Moroccan children are 'different' and would all jump straight out of the window were there no bars on them.

So - the five-year-old daughter of our neighbour was 'safe' and could play to her heart's content, which she did - protected from all danger. She played and on Saturday she was playing with some of the other children on the landing.

Somehow she fell down the stairwell. She was dead before she hit the ground floor as she smashed her head open on the baluster wall of the floor below.

Now the balustrade to the stairs and the landing is a 1m high block wall, not easy for a five-year-old to just 'fall over', not easy for anyone to just fall over so quite how or why she climbed on top of it and fell off will remain a mystery and I don't think anyone has (or will bother to) ask the other children 'what happened' nor (rather more to the point), 'counsel' them and one suspects that one or more of them will be quite traumatised by the event.

The 'shock' to me is the stark reality that the children are over protected and don't understand danger. I seriously wonder whether the iron cage in which the child had been living actually contributed to her premature death.

Benshasha children get the odd cuts, bruises and broken bones but not one has died (in the ten years that I have known it) of an 'accident'. They all know danger too well from birth. When we go to the beach with (up to) 27 children, we have (so far) not lost one, and the eight/nine-year-olds look after the babies and teach them about danger - the sea, the rocks and the things amongst the rocks that can really hurt you.

I shiver in terror as I vainly try and keep an eye on them all, but still believe that 'over protection' is worse and more dangerous in the long run.

How terrible

I strongly believe that being over-protective is not worthwhile as you can not possibly protect against everything.

I also know that as a kid I got into a few dodgy situations that taught me a lot. Some kids are more 'adventurous' than others.

Perhaps children just shouldn't be playing on balconies unattended. That way, any attempts at climbing can result in a stern lecture about the consequences of falling to your death... With perhaps an example being made, for slightly older children, with the use of a squash or similar...

Sadly there will probably be nothing done - other than just shout at the other children. It is difficult for them here (in the middle of Casa) as there IS nowhere for kids to play. The 'stairs' are, at least, inside and the comings and goings of adults generally ensure that they behave. I suspect that they were just 'unaware' of the danger but nobody (other than me) ever says 'DON'T try and climb on the wall'.

All the more sad is that - in all probability - another child 'helped' her up onto the wall - it is too high for a small child to get up on to without standing on something. If that happened, then the other child will be feeling terrible. It will also be totally unable to say anything out of the certain fear that, if it did, it would get beaten half to death.

What the kids need is 'teaching'. Amazingly, in the ten years that I have been here not one has actually fallen down the stairs - tat would be bad enough as there are 22 steps - terrazzo and fifteen of them in a straight run. They are all quite aware of THAT danger and are areful.