McCann related stroy..........?

Question

....when I was a kid my Mum once left me standing outside the shop on a camp site because she's forgotten her purse. She quickly ran back to our caravan and expressly told me to not move an inch. She was about 1 minute. I did as I was told but anything could have happened to me in that minute couldn't it?

I think my mum was a bit foolish to leave me there BUT (and this is my point) my Mum is a lovely person and a great mother. She did something I wouldn't do myself and we were luck in that we got away with her silly decision without any consequences.

Are the McCanns really so dreadful as some people are saying...or, like my Mum, did nice enough people just make a sh!tty call?

And before some of you berate tham again, can you honestly say you've never made a bad judgement or silly decision? Isn't it the case that a lot of us only aren't being discussed in the way the McCann's are because we got away with something without ill effect and they sadly have to face the worst outcome

I see your point but still, anything could have happened to me in that one minute. Would the public have been just as rough on my Mum if something had happened. Probably. We're too quick to condemn I think.

Answer 1

Come on!!! The McCanns say they were just fifty yards away - that places them in the middle of the swimming pool!

Reality is that they were five minutes walk away.

The statements of them and their friends prove conclusively that there was always someone around the children at all times. So how was she snatched? If they won't tell the truth how can the police work out a time frame?

At the end of the day they left THREE children alone and at risk in an unlocked apartment. Any of the three children could have wandered out and drowned in the swimming pool before they could be reached!!!

Whether Madeleine was snatched or is already dead - if the McCanns had acted with the responsibility required it would not have happened. So - they must live with the fact that whatever pervert did it - they could not have done it if they had taken proper care of their THREE children!

They save money not paying for a baby sitter. They seek to excuse their actions and thus encourage other parents to put their children at risk. PLEASE - get real - parents must take the safety of their children seriously both before pleasure and before cost!!!

Answer 2

My Mum probably did the same, but like you say for one minute.

The thing is with the McCanns "mistake" is they kept making it!! The children were left alone every night, not just once and clearly not checked on as often (if at all) as was first thought. They have admitted they were wrong to do it, so why did they continue to do it night after night? Did they just hope nothing would happen to their children, that they wouldn't choke, sleepwalk, set the apartment on fire or be taken by someone?

What your Mum did doesn't even compare, these days it might be silly to do it but (not sure how old you are) but when I was growing up child abduction wasn't feared like today, the world was a safer place.

I think many people may have left their kids in the hotel on holiday, I live in a holiday resort and I see parents putting booze before their kids all the time. Many take their kids out on the lash with them and the poor things so to sleep across two chairs in a loud, smoky bar but at least they are with them. i would imagine that those who have left their kids alone will never do it again and have learnt a valuable lesson. I would never do such a thing, but unfortunately we are not all the same.

Answer 3

One minute and several hours while having a few beers are different things. Everyone make errors of judgement and they are often forgivable. I don't think that the McCanns judgement was really an error as such. The act of leaving their children alone was a thought through decision and a stupid one at that. Also you are relating one period of time with another yet if I left my child alone in an apartment for a week would it be the same thing? You have to draw a line and say what child neglect is. Leaving your child for one minute or loosing sight of them in a supermarket is a mistake that many make. Leaving your child alone in an apartment while you go out drinking is a mistake which only those who don't care about their children make.

Answer 4

You say "when I was a kid my Mum once left me standing outside for about one minute".

However you don't say how old you are now so we can not tell how long it is since you were a kid. I am 48 years old and when I was a kid people used to leave kids outside in prams and pushchairs. They also used to put the pram in the garden for the child to get fresh air. Kids could go out and play all day only coming home when they were hungry. But alas not anymore. These days you dare not let a child out of your sight for one minute, night or day. Things are different now and I don't care who you are or what class you believe you belong to, this is not the 1950's or 60's and people don't look out for each other and there is some really nasty people around. Today no one would leave a child even for a minute in broad daylight. The McCanns did no such thing either. They left 3 babies in a dark room in a foreign country, alone. For god knows how long. Your Mum does not compare to these 2 so give your Mum a big hug she did nothing wrong in those days.

Answer 5

How the heck can you compare a few moments with at least 3 hours????
The Mccann's made the same call every night of their holiday, that isn't just making "One" mistake, its a lifestyle decision. They should have left the kids at home with Gran and Grandpa.
I have never left my kids like that, and i don't know anyone that would. For Goodness sake the Mccann's and their friends are supposed to be intelligent well educated people, it wasn't just the risk of abduction, there are all sorts of scrapes kids can get in to.

In my opinion david m has the best answer here.

Answer 6

I'm afraid I was much more neglected than that. I'm horrified today at the freedom I was allowed. And yes, I have at times done things I've regretted. But I still believe, like Kate McCann does, that I am a good, loving, kind mother.
I would like to say though that the McCann children were asleep, in their own beds, in what was supposed to be a safe and secure complex. They thought their children were safe - they weren't. And by the way, it's got nothing to do with being tight-fisted. Why do these people come up with the same trite expressions? Foreign country? - are paedophiles more likely to be foreigners? And I was brought up in the times of the Brady murders.
However, isn't it time we moved on from going over and over the same thing?
How about concentrating on the real culprit - the person who took the little girl?
Paedophiles are released from prison and most of them are repeat offenders. Isn't it time that paedophiles were locked up for good, rather than being allowed to prey on innocent victims?

Answer 7

There is a significant difference between what your mum did and what the McCanns did. Your mum made a dopey decision once...not every night of the week.
Edited to add: I see what you are saying. But, if you had been snatched and your mum had said she was only gone for a moment...I would have had sympathy for her 100%.
However I have no sympathy for the McCanns (only Maddie has all my sympathies). The reason being is they obviously were not good parents if they thought it was okay to leave their small children alone while they were wining and dining for literally hours.
All parents make dopey little decisions every day where something terrible might have come out of it. The McCanns didn't make a mere decision...they raised their kids like this. This happened more than once, it was a ritual, it was just normal for them.

Answer 8

I have to say, i've never left my children in an apartment, in a foreign country at that age!! Let alone at home! And I would never take a decision like that lightly without considering the concequences, its maternal.
They made a joint decision to leave their BABIES alone. What if one had woken up ill, needed their mum after a nightmare?? Imagine their distress to wake & not find mummy & daddy there? Seriously, to put one child in harms way is bad enough, but 3??
Ok, name calling them helps no one, but a lot of people dont support their decision &have the right to say so. Not all of us put our needs over our kids.

Answer 9

Your mum didn't go off to a restuarant and sit down and stuff her face did she then lie to police that she checked on you every half an hour but didn't bother to even do that.

I expect the McCanns made sure their passports and money were safe enough - oops, they forgot to do the same for their kids. As if they haven't learnt their lesson, they now continually leave their remaining children with nannies. Gerry has already told a journalist that he did absolutely nothing wrong in leaving his children - apparently, people do it all the time. How deluded is this man? The only safe member of that household is cuddle cat.

Answer 10

I take it when your mum left you that was quite a few years ago, in the good old days when people left their front doors unlocked. Nowdays with all the pee-do's and weirdo's out there you would not leave you little kiddies alone, i mean for gawds sake they were all little tots! They are so wrong to leave them and as i have said on this site before they are supposed to be professional people not idiots!

Answer 11

yes i see your point but your argument and the position that the mccanns left their children in are two opposite ends of the scale, i can say that i have left my kids in the car whilst going into a shop, i leave their bedroom windows open at night and i let them play with the scissors, this does not make me a bad parent but it shows that even doing these everyday things leaves my kids at some degree of risk should the wrong person be around at the wrong time, it's just the degree of danger that changes from your story to theirs. they were very foolish even neglectful it was every night, for hours on end and on one occasion out of sight at a bar near the beach, that degree of risk is unacceptable and that is why ppl blame them so much. xx