Leaving Your Child Unattended

[glesga123]

AB is bang out of order with this question.The parents of Madeleine McCann are being tortured enough without the 'holier than thou' finger pointing brigade spouting nonsense like this. Posting the question is downright irresponsible and is no help to anyone.

[fine,thanks]

unlike you glesga, i dont think there has been a vast amount of finger pointing towards these parents,what they did was neglectful and what a dreadful price they are paying now, im concearned if what one previous poster stated is true. ie the two younger children are being sent to a creche why are they not being cared for by their parents ?

[nannon]

yes i read it on the bbc website - one day last week i think it was...? I was so shocked - i just couldnt fathom it at all considering what they are going through!!

[netibiza]

If this "criticism" make one other parent think twice about leaving a child unattended then it's fine. Had the children been properly looked after ie, babysitter insitu, this crime would not have happened to poor Maddie. There is no argument. How can ANYONE think it's Ok to pop out even for a minute and leave any child unattended??

[fine,thanks]

im curious to know why this question keeps being pushed down the page >

[yinyang]

To be fair to AB, the question isn't 'do you think this little girls parents were wrong' it's asking what we would do. No one can deny that this story has raised a lot of issues - what is perfectly acceptable to some people is serious neglect to others.
Personally, no, I would never have left my child like that but nobody deserves to lose their childand I see no point in pointing fingers/

My biggest problem with the poll is that it's too vague. Define unattended? 40% say they never have or would leave their child unattended. Do these people never go to the toilet? Are their children never allowed to play upstairs in their room? Or do that 40% just mean they would never leave their child in the house alone. I'm with the 45ish%, my girls are five now and if they're playing in the living room, I'll go to the back garden and grab a pair of jeans of f the line for example. But I wouldn't have done that when they were toddlers and for ever falling over and pulling things down.Accidents in the home are a much more real threat than abduction.
There are too many variables for it ever to be a fair poll.

[glesga123]

Fine,thanks, Get your head out of the sand and you might see and hear the critisism being fired in the direction of Maddies parents. Dont you think they know they have made a massive error in leaving the kids alone. No doubt you and your like would be happy to see the hangman waiting for them at the airport.

[bensmum]

I have to agree with that last statement. The parents must know that they made the biggest error of their lives when they left the children and they and Maddy are suffering for it now. They will carry that guilt for the rest of their lives but accusations won't help to get her back and the time for recriminations will be when she is returned. I agree that the children should not have been left especially in a strange place but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Whether they were right or wrong, they need support and my heart goes out to them as it would to any parent in the same predicament.