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[Sand]

I don't live in a glass house. I have an apartment. And if I had a child she or he wouldn't be left unsupervised til I know he or she can take care of his or herself which more than likely be somewhere around 7 to 9 years old.

[Tale]

7 to 9?!

[Aram]

Leaving a toddler home alone is one thing. Leaving one alone in a strange hotel room in a foreign country is another.

[Sand]

7 to 9?!

 

Yes. At that age they should be developed enough to handle most situations they can get themselves in. I was.

 

Even after that age is reached I would still keep a relatively close eye on the child until the early to mid teens. I would be a parent and not one of those buggers who expects the media, the schools, and the government to raise their kids.

Edited May 16, 2007 by Sand

[Tale]

Considering you think a bloody second grader is capable of handling most situations by themselves, I suspect you would indeed be expecting TV to do the raising.

[Sand]

Hardly. I go by my own experience. At 8 years old I knew the value of money and knew how to procure funds, had rudimentary skills in cooking and food preparation, and the ability to take apart and put together small electronic devices. I also knew where to hit a person to cause the maximum amount of pain if needed.

Edited May 16, 2007 by Sand

[Tale]

Hardly. I go by my own experience. At 8 years old I knew the value of money and knew how to procure funds, had rudimentary skills in cooking and food preparation, and the ability to take apart and put together small electronic devices. I also knew where to hit a person to cause the maximum amount of pain if needed.

Obviously one man's biased experience is telling of the entire species.

 

And this is nothing like the thinking that causes people to leave children in neglect situations. No sir, not EXACTLY LIKE IT AT ALL.

[Sand]

I disagree. I would still keep an eye on the child but only interfere in what they would be doing if they were going to cause harm to themselves.

[Walsingham]

All I'm saying is, you're both doctors, you have three kids. You are on holiday. You find a nice restaurant within a stone's throw of your flat. You go out for a BIT of quiet, and still go back regularly to check on your babbies.

 

I' not saying that the children mightn't get upset at being left alone for 30 minutes but jeez, it's not the end of the world. If you wanted to guard them against threats, predatory abduction is probably a lower probability than choking on their own feet. Which is not to say that predatory paedophiles aren't a serious thing. only that an individual parent should be forgiven for not seeing it coming.

[Sand]

I wouldn't have gone out. I would have stayed at the flat and ordered in or find a reliable person to watch the child, or left them at relatives I trusted and then gone on a holiday. If none of them are an option then I will just suffer the responsibilities of being a parent til they reach their 18th birthday.

 

Also it is not a matter of we forgiving the parent but the parent forgiving themselves for putting their child in danger, unforseeable or not.

Edited May 16, 2007 by Sand

[Walsingham]

In my crystal ball I foresee two alternatives...

 

1) You hire a local childminder who, thanks to there being no screening of such people locally, turns out to be a child abuser anyway.

 

2) You spend years shackled to your children, and wind up resenting them so much that by the time they are 8 you are leaving to fend for themselves armed with hammers. Deprived of affection, and marshalled by an increasingly angry and jaded parent they begin to commit crime in a pathetic attempt to get attention from others. They also eat hotdogs. From those guys in the street.

[metadigital]

It's illegal to leave children unsupervised until they are sixteen in Britain.

[Sand]

In my crystal ball I foresee two alternatives...

 

1) You hire a local childminder who, thanks to there being no screening of such people locally, turns out to be a child abuser anyway.

 

2) You spend years shackled to your children, and wind up resenting them so much that by the time they are 8 you are leaving to fend for themselves armed with hammers. Deprived of affection, and marshalled by an increasingly angry and jaded parent they begin to commit crime in a pathetic attempt to get attention from others. They also eat hotdogs. From those guys in the street.

Which is the exact reasons why I am not having children.

[metadigital]

* and there was much rejoicing *

[Gorgon]

I won't rule it out, I mean, i'm a guy, theres no biological clock, I could knock up my young trophy wife at 101, in the unlikely event I live that long.

[Azarkon]

* and there was much rejoicing *

 

What a terrible thing to say!

 

At any case, Madeleine has a better chance of being saved than the vast majority of kidnapped children. There are places in the world where events like these are everyday occurences, and where even the authorities wouldn't give a damn, much less news reporters. Alas.

Edited May 16, 2007 by Azarkon

[Gorgon]

This is true, in the wake of the tsunami it didn't take long for the slavers to start claiming lone surviving children.

Edited May 17, 2007 by Gorgon

[astr0creep]

Which is the exact reasons why I am not having children.

 

Yeah, right. I remember saying that to myself numerous times in the past...

 

 

Anyways, Even if the parents did leave their kids unnattended for too long, unless they did the deed they cannot be blamed. There's a world of different between occasional negligence and kidnapping.

 

Blaming these parents for the dissappearance of their daughter is like blaming a sexy dressed woman for being raped.

[Sand]

I do agree that the whole blame is not squarely on the parents, and I think it isn't our place to lay blame. I can only imagine the anguish the parents are going through right now.

[metadigital]

This is true, in the wake of the tsunami it didn't take long for the slavers to start claiming lone surviving children.

That is very saddening.

[Walsingham]

This is true, in the wake of the tsunami it didn't take long for the slavers to start claiming lone surviving children.

That is very saddening.

 

Agreed. But don't worry, I'm sure those slavers deserve long treatment at taxpayer expense so they can rejoin society as productive individuals.

[Dark_Raven]

Slavers should be put to the sword, than impaled like Vlad did to the Turks as a form of intimidation.

[SteveThaiBinh]

Much like with the Virginia Tech shootings, people are sometimes a bit eager to look for someone to blame. I suppose it helps them to deal with stress. I think the parents can be forgiven for their early criticism of the Portuguese police, given the nightmare in which they now find themselves. I live in a secure compound and I suppose if I had kids, I might go over to a neighbour's house for an evening and leave them home by themselves. That's the kind of environment I live in, but then, I'm no expert on security, so is our security real or illusionary? I think that Walsingham's right, that every parent must be free to find a balance between security and other concerns. The law certainly shouldn't interfere.

[Gfted1]

Whaaaaa? I cant believe what Im reading. Its "ok" to leave young children unsupervised if you had a poopy day or just felt like taking some time off? Er, no, its not ok. That also explains why there are laws that say thats not ok. Children are a lifetime commitment, especially in their wee years. You dont just tell little Johnny or Sally to hang out in the room until you get back from dinner. Thats just straight up idiotic, lazy and selfish.

[metadigital]

I suppose if I had kids, I might go over to a neighbour's house for an evening and leave them home by themselves.

I think you might change your mind when you become a parent.