Madeline

[Bagpuss]

and she is a scouser after all

[BrilloPad]

Madeline's parents will always regret leaving her for even a minute, but you could say that about a parent who lets go of their child's hand and they run in front of a car, or a parent who leaves their child playing in the garden for a few moments and comes back to find them drowned in a 6 inch deep pond. And so on. As a parent you take precautions, but if you wrap your children in cotton wool then both you and the kids will end up pretty screwed up. This was horribly bad luck. The kind of bad luck that happens to people every day, all over the world. To start pointing fingers at them is ignorant.

The Jamie Bulger(Bulgar?) thing was bad luck - mum turned away for a few seconds. To leave children for half an hour is totally irresponsible. If they were on the terrace outside the house having a drink - fine. But to be 250 yards away out of eyesight for 30 minutes is ridiculous.

I agree about the cotton wool stuff - but you wouldn'y let a small child play with matches or knives, would you?

Having said all that I really really do feel for the parents. But I would like an example of them made to stop this happening in the future.

[PrinceNamor]

They were in what they thought was a secure complex. From the maps I have seen they could see their apartments front door from where they were. Them popping back every 20 - 30 minutes was far superior to the on site baby sitting service. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

In what way was this complex secure???Apparrently anyone has access to the complex to use the restaurants etc, so it would be plainly obvious that it was in no way secure. It's lucky they could see the front door because obviously no one would think of going in through the rear. Oh wait...

[ratewhore]

Isn't this a conversation for after they (hopefully) find her?

[The Lone Gunman]

In what way was this complex secure???Apparrently anyone has access to the complex to use the restaurants etc, so it would be plainly obvious that it was in no way secure. It's lucky they could see the front door because obviously no one would think of going in through the rear. Oh wait...

I have neither visited nor seen the complex, nor do I know how secure it is. I have no way of knowing how responsible these parents were or what led them to asses the situation as safe enough to leave their children asleep in the chalet. All I know is that they did and what the consequences have been.

I just choose not to take the moral high ground by accusing them of all kinds of things based on my own little fantasy of what went on.
I will wait for all the evidence to be in place before I start judging others.

Just remember, a little girl in the NE was kidnapped from her bath whilst her mum was in the kitchen, should she have been more attentive?

tulip happens, there is no need to point the finger.

[PrinceNamor]

tulip happens, there is no need to point the finger.

In this case, yes there is, because if we don't we are saying that leaving toddlers locked up and left to their own devices is acceptable behaviour.

[dang65]

The Jamie Bulger(Bulgar?) thing was bad luck - mum turned away for a few seconds. To leave children for half an hour is totally irresponsible. If they were on the terrace outside the house having a drink - fine. But to be 250 yards away out of eyesight for 30 minutes is ridiculous.

I agree about the cotton wool stuff - but you wouldn'y let a small child play with matches or knives, would you?

Well, as the lone gunman asks, how far is too far? It's too far if the child gets abducted, or hurt. But children have been abducted from their bedrooms while their parents slept in the room next door with the doors open. You'll know this story?

And then you say, "you wouldn't let a small child play with matches or knives, would you?" Obvious response is, "No, of course not." But I leave my kids playing in the front room with, say, electricity they could electricute themselves with, bits of rope they could hang themselves with, bits of wood they could concuss themselves with, things which are sharp enough that they could cut themselves quite badly. These are just toys, or dressing up stuff they play with, not "dangerous weapons". And that's not to mention the hazards out in the garden.

A few months ago, two of them managed to lock themselves in a cupboard in their bedroom! Was about 15 minutes before I heard very loud thumping upstairs and went to tell them off for making a noise and found them. Gave them a fright. Gave me a fright. But I'm hardly going to make them follow me around on leads or something.

[The Lone Gunman]

In this case, yes there is, because if we don't we are saying that leaving toddlers locked up and left to their own devices is acceptable behaviour.

As I said, how far away is safe in your opinion?

[Troll]

Well there's only one solution then, and that's to get an even bigger 4WD to protect themselves.

My 4x4 post was sarcastic. Madeline's parents will always regret leaving her for even a minute, but you could say that about a parent who lets go of their child's hand and they run in front of a car, or a parent who leaves their child playing in the garden for a few moments and comes back to find them drowned in a 6 inch deep pond. And so on. As a parent you take precautions, but if you wrap your children in cotton wool then both you and the kids will end up pretty screwed up. This was horribly bad luck. The kind of bad luck that happens to people every day, all over the world. To start pointing fingers at them is ignorant.

It's all a question of risk, as a responsible parent with small children if I had a pool in the back garden I would fence it off. To me that is common sense – but it’s surprising the number of parents who don’t do this

As a responsible parent I would never leave toddlers without either myself or my wife around - the image I have here is of this couple wanting some 'quality time together' i.e. without the kids around -which seems to be a modern trait and is nothing to do with 'luck'


At some stage you are going to have to let go of the kiddies hand and let them cross the road on their own but you minimise the risk by choosing when they are old enough and have had enough instruction - you make the judgement and live with the consequences

[Troll]

If Mum/Dad has to drive kids to school - why can't they all walk?

We are one of the furthest from school and one of the few to walk. And on the way to school most drivers, especially white van man, are considerate to the gf/kids. The ones who try to run them down are mums in big 4WD with 1 small child in back.

So is the problem:

female drivers

or

4x4's