Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris T
I'm not saying that they weren't incredibly stupid in what they did. I'm just saying I am concerned at how easily some people slip from condemning a stupid incident - even a stupid chain of incidents - to condemning them as 'bad parents' which takes in far more than whether they think it's a good idea to leave their kids alone while they go to a restaurant that (they believe) is within reasonable eyeshot of the apartment...
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In my opinion, what the McCann's did that evening (and previous evenings) far outweighs and negates any "good parenting" that they may have done in the past. They gambled...with their childrens wellbeing...and lost. It wasn't a "spur of the moment" decision. It wasn't an accident that happened while the parents were distracted. It was a cold, calculated, callous decision to leave 3 children under 4 years old, alone, in an unlocked, downstairs apartment. An apartment that they couldn't see from the tapas bar. An apartment where the chidren's bedroom was at the back of the apartment, overlooking a car lot. An apartment in a public road.
As mentioned many times near the beginning of this thread, it's not just the chance of abduction to worry about, but the chance of an accident, fire, etc. or the chance of one of the children waking up, frightened, needing the comfort of their Mum or Dad. But...nah, we'll ignore all those possibilities and go out & enjoy ourselves, without the kids getting under our feet!
It wouldn't be so bad if the McCann's said that what they did that night was wrong, or it was a stupid thing to do, but they haven't. According to them "at the worst, we were naive". They can't seem to bring themselves to accept any kind of resposibility for what happened to their child that night.
On the eve of the 100th day since her disappearance, the BBC news showed a report from Portugal. The reporter standing outside the apartment brings home just how cut-off from the holiday club the apartment really is.