Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Children pay for parents' stupidity

My heart definitely goes out to the family and friends of Madeleine McCann, the four-year-old British girl supposedly abducted from a Portugal resort. Hoping with all my hope that she is alive, I can't imagine what she may be going through.

It definitely breaks my heart.

And what outrages me nearly as much is how that little girl is paying the price for the STUPIDITY of her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann.

Madeleine McCann disappeared May 3 when her parents left her and her 2-year-old twin siblings alone in their hotel room while they went to a restaurant in their hotel complex in Praia da Luz, a resort town in Portugal's Algarve region.

(Above, taken from a story about the McCann's meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.)

I know the story is not new, but I've yet to see any many (any?) comments about the careless way the McCanns treated their children. From an earlier story, I read that, while at the restaurant, the McCanns checked on their children "every half hour or so."

Only by God's grace did the other two children remain safe.

Yes, no parent is perfect -- including me -- but YOU DO NOT LEAVE YOUR YOUNG CHILDREN ALONE WHEN YOU ARE NOT HOME OR IN SOME UNFAMILIAR PLACE.

Isn't that just common sense?

Not for the McCanns.

And, unfortunately, their daughter Madeleine is paying the price of their stupidity.

-- Michael
(the father of three children eight and under, with my wife expecting #4 in July)

P.S. For a thought-provoking and well-worth-the-read commentary, please see Dani Garavelli's story in the Scotsman.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Even if the parents had been in the apartment, they did not share a room with Maddie, so most likely this would have still occured. Do your kids sleep in the same room with you? Do you have alarms on all of their bedroom windows? How do you know this would never happen to you?

I have the utmost sympathy for these parents. As a parent myself, I can not be with my children 24 x 7, even when doing laundry, I am often in the basement for up to an hour folding and ironinig clothes while the kids sleep. Would you call me a careless and stupid?

Mike Driehorst said...

No, Anonymous, I would not call you careless or stupid. I'm not always in the same room as my children either. That's impossible.

But, would you leave your home with your toddler(s) still there? Would you go to a public place -- even a hotel or resort apartment -- and leave your children unattended?

Yes, Madeleine may still have been kidnapped (assuming that's what happened) if her parents were in the apartment -- but they likely would've heard something. Not definitely, but very likely.

Still, McCanns made a stupid mistake. I pray it's not a fatal mistake for their daughter.
-- Michael

Ricky Samuelson said...

I am a fellow parenting blogger, my blog is www.bykids4parents.blogspot.com.

I share some different views as you. No parent can be with a child every second. Are you saying that a parent that leaves their child alone for a minute is stupid?

Though I do agree that the McCanns should have been more watchful. If they had taken the proper precautions, then maybe this dreadful incident may never have happened.

I would love to have a discussion about this with you on my blog or yours. Maybe we can become link partners?

-Ricky Samuelson of www.bykids4parents.blogspot.com