Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Well my kids are now 14 and 16 and yes i let them out of my sight but at age four no i didn't. Does anyone on here allow their four year old to just wonder off on their own. The age of maddie plays a large part in this while as a parent i might want to wrap my kids up tight to protect them from anything bad as they get older i have to accept they have the right to go. But at age four safe distance was the end of my arm or my wifes arm and vision wise never more then a couple of metres from me when the wife had them.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

They didn't say that at the start. But then they have had PR management from very early on to 'assist' them. A month or so ago is a far cry from their original thoughts.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

They were adamant for at least a month and nearer two months forever that they were blameless in this situation that is a matter of record and yes i missed the updated version but i am sorry i am cynical about it.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

You appear to be missing the point; people stated (frequently) on this thread that they had never said sorry or regretted their actions - they, in fact, have.

It appears (imho) to show that people often see what backs up their viewpoint, not what is available.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

So why didn't they from the start why did they ever say they were blameless.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

But it also shows how confusing to see what is and what isn't the truth. So can you now see even on that different point. The differences in their story, going from 'we did nothing wrong and not blameless' to 'we were wrong and guilty' Is that not their thoughts or is that from their PRs.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

As the Times article pointed out this morning, what you are doing is judging the actions of a couple who were - and still are - under immense emotional pressure.

Your question, and your judgement which is implicit within it, simply isn't fair.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Why's that? Because of something you read?

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Neither was that article that sought to completely put the blame for all this on the public. End of the day this whole affair has been fanned by leaks from all sides, by the press that goes oneway oneday and then another way the next. Fair treatment is treatment based on what people have seen and heard and on this forum people have been considerably fairer then on many many other forums. I am judging them yes i am i am judging them by my standards and the standards i see day in day out. If i had done what they did i would expect to be judged

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

I used to go off on my own when I was 4 in Saudi at the shopping centres.
Used to do the same at the Havant Hypermarket, I'd go to the toy aisles while my mum did the shopping, then, while looking for her I'd normally get picked up by someone and taken to customer services where they'd call mum over the tannoy :D

I'd also snorkle up and down the first reef (about 100m from shore) in the Red Sea on my own.
Spent 5 years doing that, disapointedly, I only saw 2 sharks, both during the last weekend I was there :(
Oh and up in the mountains at Taif, I'd go off rock climbing on my own.

Also at 4 I used to go to the woods behind our estate where the older kids had built a BMX track.
The woods were full of kids back then, either racing round the track, building dens or daming the stream.
It's funny, back then, the woods were always full of life and sunny.
5 years later, and the older kids had grown up and moved on, and the younger one's parents were too scared to let thier kids out of their sight.
The river no longer got damed, no dens were made, no laughter was heard in the woods, they were darker, scarier.
Such a shame.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

#Back in the summer of '69 #

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

I am not saying the world is a better place xaccers i wish i could feel comfortable letting my kids have the freedoms i had when i was a kid. I guess thats the joy of a media that revels in the dark side of life it does make you paranoid to a point and over protective and i am guilty of both of those.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Oi! I'm not that old!
We're talking 81 onwards here.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

Touchy abut age you just know he is getting nearer to thirty then twenty :D.

Re: Toddler 'abducted' during holiday
 

I think it's more that the media are getting better at making parents feel uncomfortable about the world outside rather than there actually being a real reason to be that way.
Next generation will only be allowed in the same room as their parents.

Problem is, if everything is done for you, you don't learn how to be responsible for your actions, or even how to think for yourself.
I've seen that with several kids recently, they have absolutely no imagination.

There were paedophiles back when I was growing up too, they aren't a recent invention, I remember Charlie saying not to go off with strangers, and to ask mum first even if it means missing out on a trip because she's busy with the milkman (or was she on the phone?).