PM: To Kate McCaan

[d000hg]

Churchill wouldn't. He wouldn't have any friends to pressure him into neglecting his children. And he probably wouldn't be friends with people who neglect their children, even they wanted to be friends with him.

[kaiser78]

You might not think leaving kids unattended is a good idea. (It's not)

You go on holiday.

You're going out to dinner. Your kids have a bedtime routine and will be grumpy and horrible if you keep them up late. You've had a relaxing day. The resort feels safe. Your guard is down.

Everyone at that resort leaves their kids and checks up on them. Nothing bad has ever happened to those kids.

Your friends are leaving their kids and checking up on them. You can see your room from the restaurant, so it feels close by.

You're not sure about it. "It'll be fine," says friend1. "Everyone does it," says friend2. "Don't be so over-protective," says friend3, "We'll check on them every half hour or so".

Peer pressure. You're an overprotective, neurotic parent if you sit in your flat while your friends are enjoying a meal.

Still 100% sure you would never have done it?

This is the crux of the whole issue - even if anywhere feels safe, as a parent, you should never let your guard down when it comes to kids, regardless of how old they are. Peer pressure doesn't come into it.

[Churchill]

You might not think leaving kids unattended is a good idea. (It's not)

You go on holiday.

You're going out to dinner. Your kids have a bedtime routine and will be grumpy and horrible if you keep them up late. You've had a relaxing day. The resort feels safe. Your guard is down.

Everyone at that resort leaves their kids and checks up on them. Nothing bad has ever happened to those kids.

Your friends are leaving their kids and checking up on them. You can see your room from the restaurant, so it feels close by.

You're not sure about it. "It'll be fine," says friend1. "Everyone does it," says friend2. "Don't be so over-protective," says friend3, "We'll check on them every half hour or so".

Peer pressure. You're an overprotective, neurotic parent if you sit in your flat while your friends are enjoying a meal.

Still 100% sure you would never have done it?

Yes, I'm 100% sure.

[eek]

You might not think leaving kids unattended is a good idea. (It's not)

You go on holiday.

You're going out to dinner. Your kids have a bedtime routine and will be grumpy and horrible if you keep them up late. You've had a relaxing day. The resort feels safe. Your guard is down.

Everyone at that resort leaves their kids and checks up on them. Nothing bad has ever happened to those kids.

Your friends are leaving their kids and checking up on them. You can see your room from the restaurant, so it feels close by.

You're not sure about it. "It'll be fine," says friend1. "Everyone does it," says friend2. "Don't be so over-protective," says friend3, "We'll check on them every half hour or so".

Peer pressure. You're an overprotective, neurotic parent if you sit in your flat while your friends are enjoying a meal.

Still 100% sure you would never have done it?

As I contract I paid for the babysitting service

[mudskipper]

As I contract I paid for the babysitting service

Have you vetted the babysitter? How do you know they're not a child abuser?

[eek]

Have you vetted the babysitter? How do you know they're not a child abuser?

The hotel employed them.

You really are struggling to justify something.

[mudskipper]

The hotel employed them.

You really are struggling to justify something.

Not at all. Just pointing out that leaving your kids with a stranger that you've never met before on the say so of a foreign hotel who is probably giving a cleaner overtime rather than employing a nursery nurse is probably almost as risky as leaving them unattended. IIRC, it was a 'baby listening service' not a babysitting service - i.e. they'd wander round from time to time and check your kid wasn't crying, or 'listen' on the end of a phone, much as the McCanns and friends were doing themselves.

[mudskipper]

My experience of Maddie's resort in Praia de Luz, the Algarve - This is Money

No listening service.

The babysitting service required you to take child to the creche - not ideal if your youngsters have a bedtime routine.

I don't think what they did is so incredible. I suspect that, prior to Maddie's abduction, many reasonable, caring, rational parents would have done the same.

[Batcher]

Have you vetted the babysitter? How do you know they're not a child abuser?

In our case we would have taken the kids. They were on holiday too so got to stay up late and have dinner with us. They didn't get grumpy as they were having too much fun dancing about while we had fun watching them.

[EternalOptimist]

I am not completely innocent.

But I get the feeling that if Kate McCann had hired a baby-sitter, then found them sitting in a bar 100m away getting bladdered, she would have kicked the living sh!t out of them