Kidnapped Madeleine

[Cardie]

and you are saying they should be ripped to shreds.

 

Absolutely.

[wiiksie]

I've said a few times before on here how, in the nearly six years we've had kids, I've become very squeamish/sensitive to stuff in the media about them. Well this story has really done my head in. I've had "something in my eye" every fucking time I've seen that woman's face over the last few days. The reason is that I can't help but empathise, putting myself in her shoes - and that thought is just unbearable (as well as slightly incomprehensible). I can totally see Mrs P and I doing exactly what they did, which is leave their child in bed while they went out for a bite to eat, popping back every 30 minutes to check on her (which is what they did, by the way). The world is a fucked up place sometimes but that couple will blame themselves for the rest of their lives, even though it's not their fault.

No way im even attempting an opinion on this whole tragic story, way too many things we dont know about it.

 

But you serious about the above Paul? You've done that/would do it? Just not something my parents ever did when me and my bro were nippers, and I don't think id ever do it. What if your children kicked off or were crying (like kids do) because you weren't there when they woke up?

[RedinSweden]

Absolutely.

 

I find that ridiculous. Where do you draw the line for blamin victims of crime? If they were in a park having a picnic with a baby in a pram and nodded off and someone stole the baby, would they be to blame? The way you talk about them "enjoying themselves" is as if they had gone clubbing. they were in a restaurant 50 yards away and kept checking to see if the kids had woken up. Aren't parents allowed to enjoy themselves?

[Cardie]

Aren't parents allowed to enjoy themselves?

 

Of course, but not at the expense of their childs safety.

 

If they were in the next room and some cunt snuck in and took her then yeah I'd have a bit of sympathy. Assuming that because they've locked the door they can fuck off out and leave very young children on their own then no sorry, they fucked up.

[derykw]

I find that ridiculous. Where do you draw the line for blamin victims of crime? If they were in a park having a picnic with a baby in a pram and nodded off and someone stole the baby, would they be to blame? The way you talk about them "enjoying themselves" is as if they had gone clubbing. they were in a restaurant 50 yards away and kept checking to see if the kids had woken up. Aren't parents allowed to enjoy themselves?

 

Parents enjoying themselves comes a distant second to child welfare.

 

I also think the media would have treated the parents more harshly if they were a family of chavs from a council estate rather than middle class medical professionals.

[Cardie]

Parents enjoying themselves comes a distant second to child welfare.

 

I also think the media would have treated the parents more harshly if they were a family of chavs from a council estate rather than middle class medical professionals.

 

Don the hard hats, big can of fucking worms just opened.

 

(agree though)

[RedinSweden]

Parents enjoying themselves comes a distant second to child welfare.

 

I also think the media would have treated the parents more harshly if they were a family of chavs from a council estate rather than middle class medical professionals.

 

I would agree if they had left the door open and the kid had woken up and wandered off, but leaving a sleeping kid in a locked room when you are 50 yards away is not a crime. This was a random crime. The chances of it happening are miniscule and yet when it happens, the victims are blamed. I think it is ridiculous quite simply.

[Paul]

I would agree if they had left the door open and the kid had woken up and wandered off, but leaving a sleeping kid in a locked room when you are 50 yards away is not a crime. This was a random crime. The chances of it happening are miniscule and yet when it happens, the victims are blamed. I think it is ridiculous quite simply.

 

Agreed. We live in quite a big house, and it's not very different from being downstairs getting pissed while my son and daughter are asleep at the top of the house - except the kids, in this case, were locked in. 50 yards away and checking on them every 30 minutes? Fuck all wrong with it, in my opinion. What are parents of young kids supposed to do? Never go on holiday? Go to bed at 6pm with their kids? This happens in every single hotel in Spain every day of the summer. The kids are asleep in bed and the parents are somewhere else in the hotel. Pontificating from non-parents on this thread, I feel.

[Cardie]

Love the idea that locking a door somehow makes everything ok.

[Guest TK-421]

I think the parents took reasonable precautions regarding the safety of the little girl. Checking every 30 minutes, if that is what they did, seems to be quite prudent to me.

 

I don't see what purpose it serves for the media (or anyone else) to analyse the parents' culpability, except to sell newspapers.

[RedinSweden]

Love the idea that locking a door somehow makes everything ok.

 

Because the child would not be able to get out and run away. As I explained in the post. I bet you blame Pepe Reina for getting burgled too. Why wasn't he at home keeping an eye on his stuff, instead of playing some football match?

[Cardie]

Because the child would not be able to get out and run away. As I explained in the post. I bet you blame Pepe Reina for getting burgled too. Why wasn't he at home keeping an eye on his stuff, instead of playing some football match?

 

No because I don't value a TV or a Porsche as highly as a childs life.

 

Ignoring the fact the parents originally said the room wasn't locked of course.....

[Paul]

Good point about knowing your own kids, RR. Mine go out like a light and, except when ill, never really wake. That's why I could imagine myself doing the same thing. Having said that, I wouldn't even attempt it until a new routine was established on holiday.

 

This isn't a bridge we've had to cross yet, as we've been lucky enough to have holidays in private villas since ours were born. However, due to cost considerations, as well as the kids' need for other kids to play with, this summer may well see us in a hotel in Spain. As I said, unless you do leave them in the room, how do you have any adult time at all, nevermind avoid going to bed at 6pm?

[RedinSweden]

Good point about knowing your own kids, RR. Mine go out like a light and, except when ill, never really wake. That's why I could imagine myself doing the same thing. Having said that, I would do it until a new routine was established on holiday. This isn't a bridge we've had to cross yet, as we've been lucky enough to have holidays in private villas since ours were born. However, due to cost considerations, as well as the kids' need for other kids to play with, this summer may well see us in a hotel in Spain. As I said, unless you do leave them in the room, how do you have any adult time at all, nevermind avoid going to bed at 6pm?

 

How old are yours Paul? Ours are 7, 8 and 10 so we can leave them for a short time, but the risk isn't abduction, it is that they will twat each other with things.

[Thants]

People are missing the point though aren't they? They didn't leave their kids in the middle of the street in the 'Hood with cocaine cardigans, they left them asleep locked up in a room in Portugal near a restaurant where they were overlooking in short time spaces.

Cut them some slack. They're going through something no-one should ever go through. All some people can do is sit there and judge.

[Paul]

How old are yours Paul? Ours are 7, 8 and 10 so we can leave them for a short time, but the risk isn't abduction, it is that they will twat each other with things.

 

They'll be nearly 6 and 3 when we go away. They're a pair of sleep monsters once they go to bed. The problem is that they wake up very fucking early.

[Paul]

It works in other ways too. I know when our youngest was three we could happily leave her in the living room on her own during the day and go for a crap, make a brew, cook tea etc. We've got friends who have three-year-olds so hyper you'd literally have to take them with you, because they'd be plugging themselves into the mains within ten seconds of you leaving the room.

 

Aye, ours don't really do dangerous stuff - they're too cowardly (like their father).

[Cardie]

No, I have a younger brother and two young nieces, so you're right I've not been through the 'fuck the kids mummy and daddy want to go out, just lock the bastards up it'll be fine' dilemma.

[RedinSweden]

How about if you had a party in your garden and your kids were in the house asleep. i bet you'd look in on them a hell of a lot less and be just as far away. You'd never get blamed for that though.

[Thants]

No, I have a younger brother and two young nieces, so you're right I've not been through the 'fuck the kids mummy and daddy want to go out, just lock the bastards up it'll be fine' dilemma.

 

Well maybe someday you will

[RedinSweden]

No, I have a younger brother and two young nieces, so you're right I've not been through the 'fuck the kids mummy and daddy want to go out, just lock the bastards up it'll be fine' dilemma.

 

It must be fantastic living in a world where everything is clear cut. Where you don't have to decide anything because all decisions are blindingly obvious and all crime can be avoided.

[Kopite]

Not every parent fucks off to a restaurant and leaves them though.

 

What he said.

 

The welfare of my son comes before everything, and I mean everything.

[Cardie]

Well maybe someday you will

 

Maybe I will, hopefully I'd have the sense to realise I live in a fucked up world and my kids need a bit more protection than a locked door and a check up every half hour, especially at that age.

[Paul]

No, I have a younger brother and two young nieces, so you're right I've not been through the 'fuck the kids mummy and daddy want to go out, just lock the bastards up it'll be fine' dilemma.

 

I presume you're being deliberately provocative now, from the level hysteria/melodrama in your post. However, as you haven't got kids, you have absolutely no conception of how they utterly overwhelm your entire life, be it physically, mentally or emotionally (which is exactly how it should be, of course). However, if you're suggesting that parents should never put themselves first, then you have unrealistic expectations of human endurance. We rarely have any sort of life that isn't dictated to us by our children - and that's fine; that's the deal. However, if we couldn't ever have a little bit of precious time away from them - even just a couple of hours with a bite to eat and a glass of wine, I reckon we'd both go mad.

[Cardie]

However, if we couldn't ever have a little bit of precious time away from them - even just a couple of hours with a bite to eat and a glass of wine, I reckon we'd both go mad.

 

And all that is a drop in the ocean compared to how the parents must feel now, but they made their choice.