(Friday, October 29, 2010 / 8:43 PM)
Title: Homeless boy, 11, caught for glue sniffing
Joe spends his time unsupervised. Mum works odd jobs and can't look after him.HE'S only 11. But Joe was caught by the police last Wednesday evening, allegedly for inhalant abuse.
It was not his first time.
His 13-year-old friend, Pete, was also caught.
Joe has three older brothers. One's 15 and already under supervision for inhalant abuse.
Another, 17, is in a Reformative Training Centre (RTC) for armed robbery.
The eldest brother, 19, lives with his father.
His parents are divorced.
A reader had alerted The New Paper to a family that had turned a HDB lift lobby into a makeshift home. The "family" was Joe, his mother and 15-year-old brother.
Over two days, we observed Joe and his friend loitering in Yishun instead of being in school. They appeared to be constantly drinking out of soft drink cans.
It was only after they were caught that it became clear they were not drinking but getting their fix by inhaling a substance in the cans.
Inhalant abuse, commonly known as glue-sniffing, usually involves substances like glue, petrol and paint thinner whose vapours can induce a high but have serious health effects on abusers.
The names in this report have been changed because juveniles are involved.
Yes, Joe is 11 and fending for himself.
His mother, Mary, claimed she had tried to encourage him to stay in school but she can't force him.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TECK JIE:...There are a few reasons which cause Joe to sniff glue. Firstly, Joe comes from a divorced family that causes him to sniff glue for attracting his mother attention. Secondly, two of Joe elder brothers set a bad example for him which causes Joe to sniff glue. Lastly, Joe glue sniffing maybe cause by his bad association.
...However cases like Joe can be prevent through a few ways. Firstly, Joe mother could show Joe more concern so that Joe would not be lead to astray by his elder brothers. Secondly, Joe should mix up with the right company so that he would not follow one of his brother footsteps. Lastly, schools should let students know more consequences of glue sniffing so that this could somehow make the students think twice before they ended up like Joe.
...In here I really hope that someone could help the needy families such as Joe family so that such tragedy would not happen again. Best wishes to Joe for overcoming his habit on glue sniffing.
LEONARD: ...At the age of 11, majority are still studying in primary school. But for Joe, that was not the case. Joe quit school this year as he doesn’t even have a home to study in, no place to keep his books and can’t even bath properly to go to school. So he spends his time idling away at playgrounds and coffee shops. Due to boredom and peer pressure, Joe turned to inhalant abuse. Inhalant abuse, commonly known as glue-sniffing, usually involves substances like glue, petrol and paint thinner whose vapours can induce a high but serious health effects on abusers. Joe buys glue by saving his lunch money.
...I feel that Joe is just wasting his life as education is very important in Singapore. He definitely will have a hard time making a living in future unless he returns to school now. He should also quit glue-sniffing as it will harm his body and cause many serious health effects. Saving money to buy glue is really a silly act as at the age of 11, it is the growing up stage for him so it is important for him not to skip any meals.
HAFIZAH:...After reading this article, I really feel that the young generation nowadays are getting themselves involved in a dangerous and harmful activity. Joe, for instance, since he does not receive much attention from his parents, he found himself a new hobby. Started to hang around and mix around with the bad companies and do nonsensical activity and in the end got himself into trouble.
...What is so good about glue sniffing? For me, the smell is so strong and also it may cause harm to our health. The type of glue that I am talking about is not the normal glue we used for art craft but the glue used for heavy works, yellow carpenter's glue (Aliphatic resin). It is definitely not good for our brain. It may cause some damage to our brain if we often smell the glue. Glue is invented for the right purpose but not for the wrong usage.
...In this article, I cannot only blame the child for what happened. The parents are at fault too. Even if they are divorced, still they have to give enough love, care and concern towards their kids who are actually innocent victims in their failed marriage. As for the mother, even if she has to go work and has to leave her son alone, she actually can ask help from any of her friends to look after her son while she is away. All I say is family’s love really play a big part in a person’s life. A child cannot grow up healthily and strong without their parents care.
ALLYSON:...After reading this article, I really pity Joe. His family has fallen apart and being the youngest, he hardly has a say in anything and this saddens me. Since his mum works odd jobs and can’t look after him, he would be rather lonely most of the time and depressed. With no close family members around him to take good care of him and show him what love is, anybody would start to feel alone, useless and even turn rebellious.
...He may have started inhalant abuse because he was depressed due to all his family problems and we cannot blame him for this as it is more of the parents’ fault of not taking care of their children properly. With parents that are hardly around, he may also have mixed with bad companies while schooling that introduced him to glue sniffing.
...He should go for counseling and be informed about the harmful effects of glue sniffing. He should also be cared for properly and be taught well about life as he is currently in his growing stage.
RICHGINIA:...Glue sniffing may have slipped down the list of worries for parents but it is still a major problem in the society. A good example will be the article above. As stated in the article, Joe, 11 & Pete, 13 were caught glue sniffing. From their age, we can notice that both of them are teenagers. I was thinking why teenagers sniff glue? And how did they get hold of additive glue such as aliphatic resin?
...I feel that it maybe be due to some of the following reasons that I am going to give. Firstly, Joe might sniff glue just to attract his mother attention. As stated in the article, Joe’s parents have divorced; hence Joe’s mother might be working throughout the day to support her children and neglected their needs for care. Secondly, since Joe is currently not studying, he has nothing much to do all day and therefore, he wants to try out something new or things that he is curious about. Thirdly, It maybe because he is following his brother’s foot step of learning bad as his brother did not set a good example for him or a good role model for him to follow. Lastly maybe because of the type of friend he mixes with, maybe he often mix with friends who are bad influence to him. They might have introduced him to glue sniffing and get him addicted.
...In conclusion, I feel that glue sniffing cases can be reduce by the following: Firstly, parents should concern more for their children and discipline each of them well as one sibling affect the others. The younger ones will take their elder sibling as role models to learn from. Secondly, I think that teenagers might get hold of glue from places where it’s under construction and carpenters using strong glues to do glue things. Hence, I feel that carpenters should take the responsibility of keeping the glues away from unauthorised people. Lastly, government can also help by giving them a proper home by helping them with loans and subsidy. This will make more optimistic towards life and hence, treasure their life and health more.
