A license should be required to be a parent!

Sometimes I really wonder:

You need a driver's license to drive a car.

You need a permit to carry a weapon.

You need a diploma, certificate, or qualification document to practice certain professions.

But to bring a child into the world and be responsible for their entire safety, you need nothing at all.

Perhaps you should, my friend!

Because when you watch some of these videos, the question inevitably comes to mind:

Is a license required to be a parent, too?

Yesterday, there was a European cup match at Beşiktaş's İnönü Stadium.

Approximately 40 thousand Beşiktaş fans were waiting for the match time in Dolmabahçe, around the stadium. Those who know the atmosphere on match day know what it's like. Jerseys, chants, crowds… People's blood pressure is a bit higher than on a normal Tuesday afternoon.

Right in this environment, a Galatasaray-supporting father appears.

With him is his son, estimated to be 10-12 years old.

The father is wearing a Galatasaray jersey.

The child is wearing a Galatasaray jersey.

Where are they?

In front of the Beşiktaş Stadium!

The man has taken out his phone and is filming content.

I don't know if it's for TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube.

But his message is quite clear:

“Look, we are Galatasaray fans. We wear our jerseys and come in front of the Beşiktaş Stadium. And no one can do anything to us.”

Well, brother…

What is your problem?

Are you trying to prove yourself?

The greatness of Galatasaray?

Are you testing the tolerance of Beşiktaş fans?

Or are you taking your son with you to film a “challenge video” for social media for the sake of a few likes, a few thousand views, and maybe some followers?

Especially when Turkey was just talking about the disgrace that happened in Ankara a few days ago…

An incident broke out next to a father holding a small child in his arms because of the Fenerbahçe jersey the child was wearing. We all watched the footage of that little child's jersey being taken off.

Who knows where that incident would have ended if the police hadn't intervened?

Those images haven't been erased from our memory yet.

Now you get up, put a Galatasaray jersey on your own son, and walk into the middle of a match-day crowd where 40 thousand Beşiktaş fans have gathered.

Why?

To film content!

This is the part I cannot wrap my head around.

Maybe you are relying on this:

“Beşiktaş fans won't do anything while the child is there.”

Probably true.

And indeed, they didn't.

But as a father, can you entrust your child's safety to the common sense of 40 thousand people you don't know?

The 39 thousand 990 people there might be the most civilized people in the world.

But what about the remaining 10?

They might have been drinking before the match.

They might be reckless.

They might be prone to provocation.

If three or five people suddenly gathered around you…

If a scuffle started…

If someone dropped the phone in their hand…

If someone shouted…

If someone retaliated…

How would you protect that little child?

Isn't that the first instinct of parenthood anyway?

“How do I keep my child away from danger?”

Yet you are taking your child with your own hands to a place where there is a possibility of danger.

Moreover, when you don't have to.

I would understand if you were just passing by by chance.

Your house is there, the road goes through there, you have no other choice…

No.

The man goes there on purpose.

He turns on his phone.

He puts on the jerseys.

He takes his child with him.

He produces content.

This is where the issue stops being about Galatasaray, Beşiktaş, or Fenerbahçe.

This becomes a parenting issue.

It is even an issue that the Ministry of Family and Social Services should think about.

Don't get me wrong…

I'm not saying “take the child away from him” or anything.

But if a parent, who is primarily responsible for their child's safety, puts their child into such an unnecessary risk for the sake of social media, it seems strange to me that there is no consequence for this.

Perhaps the most meaningful punishment for the father would be this:

He would wear the same Galatasaray jersey at the next Beşiktaş-Galatasaray match…

He would have the same phone in his hand…

He would film content in the same place…

But this time, his son would not be with him!

Let's see if he goes again?

That is the whole point.

Because a bad possibility comes to mind:

Are you this brave because your child is with you?

Is your child providing you with a safety shield without realizing it?

Are you thinking, “There is a child with me, no one will touch me”?

If so, the situation is much more dire.

A child is not a shield.

A child is not a social media accessory.

A child is not “challenge” material.

A child is certainly not an extra to be fed to the algorithm.

Dear football fans…

Dear mothers and fathers…

The beautiful people of my beautiful country…

We already live in a country that is tense enough.

Team fans are angry with each other.

People are angry with each other because of politics.

Identities, opinions, and neighborhoods are angry with each other.

In an environment where people are looking for excuses to clash with each other, let's not drag our children into these confrontations.

Football is entertainment.

It is competition.

It is banter.

It is joking around.

You lose, you get angry.

You win, you boast.

You watch the match again the next week.

But a child is something else.

A child's safety is above all of this.

Even if that video got 10 thousand likes.

Even if 100 thousand Galatasaray fans followed you.

Even if hundreds of comments came saying, “Well done brother, you are a big man.”

Is it worth it?

Is it worth the fear your son might experience in a split second of lost control?

Of course, let's also open a parenthesis for the Beşiktaş fans here.

No one should harass anyone because of their jersey.

Whether their child is with them or not.

Galatasaray fans, Fenerbahçe fans, and Trabzonspor fans can all pass in front of the Beşiktaş Stadium.

This is what is normal.

This is what civilization is.

But life does not always offer us sterile environments consisting of “normal people.”

And isn't parenthood already about being able to calculate this a little bit?

Saying “I am right” is one thing.

Saying “I will not put my child at risk” is another.

Producing content on social media is easy.

We see such things now…

If you want, drop your pants in the middle of the street, rest assured someone will watch that too.

It will get millions of views.

But not everything that is watched is right.

Not everything that is applauded is smart.

And not everything that goes viral is a feat.

Yesterday, that father and son were first protected by God.

And then by the common sense of the Beşiktaş fans.

But parenting is not about leaving a child's safety to God and the common sense of opposing team fans.

Let your priority be your children.

Likes come later.

Followers come later.

Football is there every week anyway.

But sometimes you cannot erase the fear etched into a child's memory for years.

That is why I ask again:

Is a license really not required to be a parent?