Okay, this story has been chapping my ass all week. I’ve wanted to write about it, but have been restraining myself.
First off, there can be nothing more horrifying in a parent’s life than a child being abducted. Nothing. It’s beyond awful. I check back with the BBC several times a day to see if any headway has been made in the search for this little girl and hope against hope that this story has a happy ending.
But.
Can anyone please tell me how any parent can think that leaving 3 children under 4 alone in a flat while you have dinner at a restaurant up the street is a good idea? The missing girl’s grandparents are quoted as saying that anyone who criticizes her parents is “misguided” and “has got it all wrong.” Excuse me, but did they or did they NOT leave 3 TODDLERS alone in a flat?
What blows me away further is that these are not stupid people. They are both doctors, which indicates a fairly high level of education. It is incomprehensible then, that no matter how “safe” they felt their resort community was, that they should have even considered leaving their children alone.
Let us put aside for a moment the whole pervert/pedo/deviant lurking in the bushes outside the window angle of abandoning a 3 year old and two 2 year olds in an apartment. THEY’RE 2 AND 3 YEAR OLDS. Do you know what they do? ANYTHING THEY FEEL LIKE DOING UP TO AND INCLUDING SETTING FIRES AND LICKING WALL SOCKETS.
When I was about 11 or 12, I babysat for my neighbor’s children who were maybe 5 and 3 at the time. 20 minutes after putting them to bed, I began to hear strange thumping noises coming from upstairs that were managing to cut through the soundtrack of whatever R rated film I’d chosen from their VHS collection for my viewing entertainment that I never in a million years would have been allowed to watch at home. You know what they were doing? CUTTING EACHOTHER’S HAIR. WITH PINKING SHEARS. Where they got them, I have NO idea. (Both of these children are now on the other side of college. God, how old am I?) At any rate, this adventure into the world of hairdressing happened with me simply downstairs and not a few hundred yards up the road.
I’ve gotten that off my chest now. If you have a moment this week, spare some good thoughts for the McCann family.
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5 comments:
OMG! I have not heard that story but it's flabbergasting. The things that kids could accidently do while their parent are there to watch them and stop them but to not be there? I can't believe it. STUPID!
I've been wondering the same thing. What I find curious is the family's constant defense of how failsafe the whole leave-them-alone-while-you-eat-dinner thing, yet the child was kidnapped. If they thought they were close enough to hear or see anything that the kids did, presumably they would have seen/heard someone kidnap her? My, my...
Oh. My. God. That is outrageous. The kid could've just walked right out the door, or done any number of other dangerous things...what were they THINKING!!?? I hope the child is found safe, and soon.
Crazy.
I agree with your rant so don't feel bad. Of course we all want the best for anyone and their kids and I hope all is returned to good and right, but seriously people. Don't leave a house full of babies alone. What were they thinking? The three year old could read stories and make sure the two year olds got teeth, jammies and tuck in done by seven? What chaps my ass is that these "baby leavers" had so many babies, obviously more than they can handle, and I 've got none! What ever happened to exploited teen-agerd baby sitters? Or going to a restaurant with the kids!
I have been thinking along the same lines, but just to lisalou and tiennie, the children were asleep when they were left, the parents checked on them every 30 minutes, and they were within a holiday village, not on a different street. The restaurant was not down the street, it was within 150 yards of the holiday apartment, within the same pedestrianised resort. I still find it hard to understand how they felt comfortable leaving them, but it's not like they went out to dinner casually without thinking about their children.
By the way, all three children are IVF babies.
One of the most upsetting pieces of speculation I've seen is that they had been through the same routine every evening, and it may be that they had been watched and that the pattern of returning every 30 minutes was noted and used to enact the kidnapping.
It's just awful, no matter how you look at it.
I also think the grandmother's full statement says something along the lines of "they feel bad enough already, it's not helping to criticse them," which I agree with. They have surely been punished enough without our approbation. (sorry PC, not criticising you for writing this as I feel the same way, but just trying to understand how the family is feeling).
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