The Realms Of Good Parenting, Take A Look,?

Question

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2005320001-2007250393,00.html

That looks too far to me to be leaving any child while out boozing

Answer 1

Obvioulsy hard to tell if you haven't been there but I'm inclined to agree + the lady who stayed there says you couldn't see doors or windows just the building itself . . . I can see the walls of the house 50 yards down the street from mine but don't think I would notice someone creepig in/out in the dark - especially if i'd had a drink, but hey that's just me . . .

Answer 2

Well children should *NOT* be left alone and everyone knows that - the distance doesn't really come into it.I wouldn't let my two eldest boys go camping in someone's back garden - and that was twenty years ago when they were nine and ten and in the cubs - they did go on cub camp but only because I was assured that they would be *supervised* ALL OF THE TIME and especially at night when they were sleeping (or meant to be!).
Funnily enough to the right of that Sun article linked to there is a "top discussion" on smacking but I won't read it or participate because you can be sure that someone will be there with the old (or rather *new*) observation that even a little tap on the bottom is "abuse" - well what really is abuse - that or *neglect* in all of it's forms,leaving young children alone being an obvious case?

Answer 3

What this picture doesn't show is that the entrance door to the apartment they stayed in, as well as the childrens' bedroom, was apparently on the ground floor at the back of the apartment block. You can see a little paved area just off the parking lot under the first "n" in "McCann". My understanding from what I have read is that was the entrance/escape route. See how close that is to the main road, with nothing but a few trees in between?

Still, this is starting to get obsessive. Perhaps we should all give it a rest, confident in the knowledge that we have voiced our opinions about the McCanns' inadequacies as parents. They made the worst kind of error in judgment and have lost a child because of it. There is no escaping that fact, for them or for their poor daughter, whose possible fate fills us all with dread and anguish.

Answer 4

Definitely too far! Would have been easier to have a meal and drinks in the apartment or take the children out with them. But that is too easy to think of and do! My family went to Portugal about 20 years ago. We, being of ages 12, 8 and 2 years went out to restaurants with our parents.

Answer 5

Notice the article also says the twins arnt even being looked after by the McCanns at the moment-because the parents want to give them a stable environment whilst galavanting around the world -fantastic parenting the kids will really appreciate losing a sister and then losing their parents too...and I agree the distance is too far.

Answer 6

It is too far, and that is why the number of yards gets canged from 250 down to 50 yds, depending on the winess. Just like the mins between the checks.

Answer 7

Im puzzled and quite fed up of reading posts by people saying "The McCanns were only a few yards away". Its a FACT that they were NOT just a few yards away. The Tapas bar was some 100 yards from the apartment, and a view was blocked by 7 foot walls, shrubs, trees, other buildings..the McCanns had to actually walk OUTSIDE of the resort to access the Tapas bar. This was not just a one-off either..the children were left EVERY single evening. The McCanns also went to a bar called The Millenium bar and left the children, and to a bar ON THE BEACH called Chaplins, which was 800 ms away. How any parent can justify that is unbelieveble!

But even without those FACTS, it is the McCanns actions SINCE that tragic night that have turned the majority of the public off them. People say "They know theyve done wrong, and they are paying for it" but really, that is the point! They dont seem to KNOW theyve done wrong! There has never, not once been any form of apology, there has never, not once, been any form of regret or an utterance of "We made a mistake". Never!

As for the fund...SO many unanswered questions, so many distastefull comments and blogs by Gerry, so many offensive remarks by the family, is it any wonder people find it difficult to relate to the McCanns? They have hardly endeared themselves to people, and the public are now sick of the way the family are behaving.

I personally know of a Downes syndrome girl who worked hard, washing cars, doing sponsered walks etc, so she could give to the fund. She also gave half of her disability money. Because she CARED. Because she wanted to help. For MADELEINE. But when her Grandmother wrote to the fund, asking how the money is likely to be used, she got a rude, one line reply saying "If you dont agree with the fund, dont donate then!"

Its THAT attitude that speaks volumes, and does this family no favours.

They let their Daughter down, and I hope she is at peace. The "backlash" they have had since then though, is all their own doing.

Answer 8

No matter what way you look at it, they still had left the building they were staying in and left three small children alone. Children at that age should never be left on their own. It is still child neglect and you can not dress that up to make it look different.

Answer 9

Where I used to live the local pub was actually closer to my home then the tapas bar was to the McCann's holiday apartment.

Would I have been reported to social services and called a bad mother if I had of left my daughter home alone to go for a swift half ? Of course I would of been and rightly so.

Answer 10

they shouldnt have left them on their own, end of.
my main worry would be a fire, let alone someone taking the kids.