A 16 years old boy Adnan Patrawala, son of a millionaire businessman was lured and killed by some friends he had met on a social networking website. They had created a fake ID, pretending to be a ‘hot’ girl and then assured him that they will help him in arranging a meeting with her. Those net-friends kidnapped Adnan and demanded a ransom of 2 crore. Our media, as irresponsible as it comes, flashed the kidnapping news and the rookie criminals killed Adnan after panicking.

There is a huge renewed demand o ban these types of site. But that cannot be a solution. Every technology that brings people closer and opens the world, also has some side effects. I personally met a friend I had lost touch with after class 2 on the same site. Basically, it’s all about how we use the suddenly open world.

Although my heart goes out to the parents of the child, I still feel that the modern concept of parenting is a lot to blame for these kinds of recurring incidents. Today parents think that their job is done after they have put their child in a highly priced education institute, bought everything the kid asks for and earned enough money to make sure that their child has no unfulfilled dream or wish. It seems to be all about “monetary parenting” where the parents are always busy and missing from the kid’s life.

What about the old times when it was about raising a child so that he/she becomes a good person and is warned of all predators. Parent always knew all the friends their kids used to have. They always used to keep an eye out for him/her.

Just to imagine that 16 years old Adnan left his home all alone is a costly car, after telling his parents that he was going to meet some friends, way past 10 pm. He later called and informed his parents that he won’t be returning home that night as he was playing pool with the friends his parents knew nothing about. What kind of parents let that happen? Would our dad or mom have permitted us to stay out all night with unknown friends, especially when we were 16 years old? No.

Parents have to remember that they not “sponsoring” the child. They are in fact responsible for them in every way. They have to be there for their kid and keep the communication channel open. Just giving them material comfort is not enough.