Kate McCann releasing a book...

[hopeandpray]

Whatever happened that little girl was awful. It hardly matters why. Her parents feel awful I'm sure, anyone that knows what it feels like to feel partly responsible for someones death (or possible death in Madi's case) would never wish that on another person. Leaving children alone for a few hours when they are asleep does not mean you deserve to lose your child forever. I think that their friends wanted to make sure that her parents were not blamed for these so they made them sound more attentive than they were. And all it did was backfire. I don't know how I would cope it people thought that I did that to my own child
What were the chances she would have been kidnapped or that something bad would have happened that they could have prevented? Tiny, what happened is so rare and they had awful luck

 

[special_kala]

Wow! There are a lot of perfect Mothers on here!
Would any of you judge Sara Payne for letting her little girl Sarah go out to play in a field?
How about Casey Mullen? She was at home and her uncle murdered her with her Mum downstairs.
My point is that be your child at home in your arms or in another room, house anywhere.. things can happen. You cannot watch your child at all times.
Yes, Madeleine was left unattended .. a lot of children are. I have been wondering what it may be like for Kate to perhaps stumble across these posts, after all she is a Mum and may already be a member on here! I cant imagine the sheer agony of reading such uncaring, judgemental posts.
I have said before and I will say again... NO ONE can punish themselves more than they already do.
As a parent you can be distracted, tired, frustrated, even just simply switch off and not think about the consequences. We are only human.. being a Mum does not suddenly make you perfect.
I think that just maybe some people on here should just take a step back and just imagine for one second what this family have and are still going through.

I understand where you are coming from but they left their 3 children unnatended on a nightly basis. That isnt a mistake that is neglect and whilst yes they may punish themselves for that for the rest of their lives IMO they should have been punished through the courts as well.

If this was a 18 year old single mother she would have had the book thrown at her

 

[special_kala]

I just read that list of 50 things and its scary how much they changed their story.

You see alot of parents of missing children ( ) on TV and ive never seen any that have acted like the McCanns

 

[Blah11]

Whatever happened that little girl was awful. It hardly matters why. Her parents feel awful I'm sure, anyone that knows what it feels like to feel partly responsible for someones death (or possible death in Madi's case) would never wish that on another person. Leaving children alone for a few hours when they are asleep does not mean you deserve to lose your child forever. I think that their friends wanted to make sure that her parents were not blamed for these so they made them sound more attentive than they were. And all it did was backfire. I don't know how I would cope it people thought that I did that to my own child
What were the chances she would have been kidnapped or that something bad would have happened that they could have prevented? Tiny, what happened is so rare and they had awful luck

Sorry but I disagree with that last bit. ANYTHING could have happened, not just kidnapping fire for example. I don't know anyone who would leave their children alone in this country let alone whilst on holiday. It's ridiculous and I do think the McCanns should have been held more responsible by authorities for that.

 

[summer rain]

I agree; there was a case I was reading about a year or so ago in this country of a mum leaving her baby at home for literally two minutes as she dropped another child just around the corner to school, the baby was sleeping and she didn't want to disturb him/her. Sadly a fire started and by the time the mum was coming back round the corner to the house the fire was out of control and her baby in the house was probably already dead. It only takes seconds...

 

[Tasha]

Would any of you judge Sara Payne for letting her little girl Sarah go out to play in a field?
.

There is a difference with this, she was 9 and she was with her three siblings two of whom were older (12 and 13), so IMO that again is different to leaving a 3 and two 2 year olds alone.

 

[special_kala]

Whatever happened that little girl was awful. It hardly matters why. Her parents feel awful I'm sure, anyone that knows what it feels like to feel partly responsible for someones death (or possible death in Madi's case) would never wish that on another person. Leaving children alone for a few hours when they are asleep does not mean you deserve to lose your child forever. I think that their friends wanted to make sure that her parents were not blamed for these so they made them sound more attentive than they were. And all it did was backfire. I don't know how I would cope it people thought that I did that to my own child
What were the chances she would have been kidnapped or that something bad would have happened that they could have prevented? Tiny, what happened is so rare and they had awful luck

Sorry but I disagree with that last bit. ANYTHING could have happened, not just kidnapping fire for example. I don't know anyone who would leave their children alone in this country let alone whilst on holiday. It's ridiculous and I do think the McCanns should have been held more responsible by authorities for that.

Exactly!

Even if they were checking on them every 20 minutes which is bullsh#t anyway anything could have happened

They could have choked
started a fire
hurt each other
fallen out of bed and cracked their head on the floor
put their finger in a plug socket
Madeline was 4 she could of run a bath and drowned in it
The McCanns said they left the patio doors open....they could have fallen out or even just walked off

 

[Tasha]

Whatever happened that little girl was awful. It hardly matters why. Her parents feel awful I'm sure, anyone that knows what it feels like to feel partly responsible for someones death (or possible death in Madi's case) would never wish that on another person. Leaving children alone for a few hours when they are asleep does not mean you deserve to lose your child forever. I think that their friends wanted to make sure that her parents were not blamed for these so they made them sound more attentive than they were. And all it did was backfire. I don't know how I would cope it people thought that I did that to my own child
What were the chances she would have been kidnapped or that something bad would have happened that they could have prevented? Tiny, what happened is so rare and they had awful luck

Sorry but I disagree with that last bit. ANYTHING could have happened, not just kidnapping fire for example. I don't know anyone who would leave their children alone in this country let alone whilst on holiday. It's ridiculous and I do think the McCanns should have been held more responsible by authorities for that.

And even if there was 0 chance of anything happen, they have said that all/some of the children were distressed and crying the night before, so why put them through that again?

 

[special_kala]

Whatever happened that little girl was awful. It hardly matters why. Her parents feel awful I'm sure, anyone that knows what it feels like to feel partly responsible for someones death (or possible death in Madi's case) would never wish that on another person. Leaving children alone for a few hours when they are asleep does not mean you deserve to lose your child forever. I think that their friends wanted to make sure that her parents were not blamed for these so they made them sound more attentive than they were. And all it did was backfire. I don't know how I would cope it people thought that I did that to my own child
What were the chances she would have been kidnapped or that something bad would have happened that they could have prevented? Tiny, what happened is so rare and they had awful luck

Sorry but I disagree with that last bit. ANYTHING could have happened, not just kidnapping fire for example. I don't know anyone who would leave their children alone in this country let alone whilst on holiday. It's ridiculous and I do think the McCanns should have been held more responsible by authorities for that.

And even if there was 0 chance of anything happen, they have said that all/some of the children were distressed and crying the night before, so why put them through that again?

because spending time with their friends was clearly more important

 

[hopeandpray]

I take your point, lots of other things could have gone wrong, they shouldn't have left them on their own. What happened to their daughter was a horrible wakeup call to a lot of people that left their children unattended and I hope don't anymore. I don't believe for a second that they didn't care about their children though. I don't think they thought of what could have gone wrong and did it anyway they just assumed that things would be okay as 99.9% of the time it is.
But about the kidnapping I just remembered a time when I was about 7 and my brother and sister were about 4. We were in a hotel with my mum and dad, they were a room next door or the one next door to that. In the middle of the night a man came into our room. When my brother had gone to say goodnight to mum and dad he hadn't closed the door properly (They had already come in before to check on us, lock the door, showed us how to phone them etc but he wanted to see them again). We all got out of bed and snuck out of the room and to our parents room. Luckily it was just a drunk guy who didn't even notice that he was in the wrong hotel room. But he could have been a kidnapper, and we could have all been gone. Scary
Even if you are in a room with the children though, what's to say that something bad couldn't happen while you were asleep

 

[Blah11]

See I wouldn't do that either. Not saying your parents were neglectful or anything btw, but i would never sleep in a seperate room with a seperate entrance from amelie

 

[TwilightAgain]

I don't think those parents deserve to be called parents to be quite honest. Thanks to their irresponsibility and selfishness, that poor little girl has been through/is going through a horrid experience which she'll most likely be in for the rest of her life (if the poor girl hasn't already been killed). It's disgusting that her parents left her - and her siblings. Absolutely disgusting, that poor little girl

 

[kaylynn040485]

The fact is that the mccans thought it ok to leave there children completely alone, go the 120yds to a restaurant with the apartment out of sight to enjoy a night out, yes people and parents can make bad judgements and mistakes but on that first night when i went back to the apartment to find my children distressed, that would have been enough of a fright to think im not doing it again but to then do the same the next night, no one can say that isnt selfish or very stupid and i cannot believe that out of that group of people not one of them felt this was wrong. Regardless of conspiricy theories etc the facts dont add up, Kate Mccann was recorded stating that someone must have forced there way in but when checked no forced entry was found and she then changed her story to say she left the patio doors open, you dont forget you have left the doors open when your 3 children are in there, u just dont!

 

[TwilightAgain]

Just an interesting tidbit - I find it incredibly interesting that some people have said to even leave your child for a minute is neglect and they deserve to feel guilty, yet, those same people were on the Venables thread but didn't blame James' mother for turning her back on him playing at the shop door. Just an observation. I won't be buying the book but I also won't be buying into conspiracy theories either. Want to see a woman guilty of an "accident" when her child was supposedly missing? Look up Casey Anthony. That is the face of a guilty woman, not Kate Mccan.

and it is my personal belief that if Jamies mother had used reins on him, he wouldn't have wandered out of the shop and into the hands of those monsters.

However, she didn't leave him in a hotel room 120 yards away on his own for hours while she went out to have dinner with friends.

But for arguments sake you could say she turned her back on a toddler in a busy shopping centre, where there are 100's of people knowing there are always dangers and he was taken, she didnt see the harm init neither did the McCann's when leaving madeline. They ahev both lost a child through no fault of there own genuine mistakes that you wouldn't do again

Thats a ridiculous comparison theres a huge difference to taking your eyes off a child to get something from the shop shelves or something to planning and following through leaving 3 young children in an apartment while you go have a meal. That is irresponsible. There is plenty of harm in leaving kids on their own, regardless of how far away or how little time - if they are so intelligent as the media makes them out to be then they should already know that. I hope that haunts them until the day they die because it sure will little maddie.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Just an interesting tidbit - I find it incredibly interesting that some people have said to even leave your child for a minute is neglect and they deserve to feel guilty, yet, those same people were on the Venables thread but didn't blame James' mother for turning her back on him playing at the shop door. Just an observation. I won't be buying the book but I also won't be buying into conspiracy theories either. Want to see a woman guilty of an "accident" when her child was supposedly missing? Look up Casey Anthony. That is the face of a guilty woman, not Kate Mccan.

and it is my personal belief that if Jamies mother had used reins on him, he wouldn't have wandered out of the shop and into the hands of those monsters.

However, she didn't leave him in a hotel room 120 yards away on his own for hours while she went out to have dinner with friends.

But for arguments sake you could say she turned her back on a toddler in a busy shopping centre, where there are 100's of people knowing there are always dangers and he was taken, she didnt see the harm init neither did the McCann's when leaving madeline. They ahev both lost a child through no fault of there own genuine mistakes that you wouldn't do again

Thats a ridiculous comparison theres a huge difference to taking your eyes off a child to get something from the shop shelves or something to planning and following through leaving 3 young children in an apartment while you go have a meal. That is irresponsible. There is plenty of harm in leaving kids on their own, regardless of how far away or how little time - if they are so intelligent as the media makes them out to be then they should already know that. I hope that haunts them until the day they die because it sure will little maddie.

I agree, completely different.

 

[kaylynn040485]

I'm not narrow minded at all I actually look at the bigger picture. As humans we are prone to make mistakes and bad choices. Excuse me for using it as an example and I'm aware it's not the same, but, there are parents that leave their children unattended when they go to play, or walk just a few minutes up the road and there are parents that put their children in the car, drive straight to work and forget about them. And they die. It's horrible but it's too easy to make mistakes in this life because sometimes stress makes us forget about risks. I dunno I just don't believe they should be condemned so fast. Noone knows what happened and smart or not they're human. I can't see their friends covering for them if they did somethin to her and as for all the accounts, I'd assume when you're constantly being grilled and accused you perhaps will forget or remember something differently. Portugese police are notorious for being lax at investigation but quick to accuse anyone and anything.

So looking at the bigger picture, can you not see that they acted in a comletely selfish way, that even though there kids had been distressed at being left the night before that they still did the same the following night. The first night was a "bad choice", to then do that to your child again the following night is just worng and no one can deny that! Yes stress does make us "forget risks" but as you said prevously, on holiday you go into "holiday mode" so they would have been anything but stressed , the bottom line is that they chose leaving there children behind on there own was what suited them, maybe i take it more to heart than i should bt for me a holiday would be spending it with my kids not leaving them on there own at night to go for a meal without them! An example of these accounts is one of the women in there groupl giving the description of the man seen near the apartment, yes i agree the shock could alter what they thought they seen but to go from the person being a man to maybe a woman to then others saying no one was seen at all, thats nothing to with pressure altering it thats someone lying! Im sorry but for me, too much in this case just doesnt add up, ive followed this really closely and believe me there are so many irregularities in accounts by each member of this group, even to this day that shock or pressure doesnt come into it and i can see them lying for them, if they all knew those kids were left there then they may all ahve been frightened of the consequences so that is why i believe she had an accident. as i said previously i would love for that little girl to be found well but i just dont think its going to happen. Kx

 

[levichips]

surely them being doctors one a gp they'd exactly know the risks of leaving them on there own? Personally an accident is something that happens beyond your control. Leaving a child to go out is thought about and irresponsible! I personally could never think about doing it! I also believe there is more to it than they are saying and have said that from the start just weird to me! You just hope that poor little girl isn't suffering in anyway! X

 

[Blah11]

Being a doctor doesn't mean you have common sense clearly.

& in regards to the whole bulger comparison, I wouldn't take my eyes/hands off my LO in a busy shopping centre. Not sure if it was different 20 years ago but defo not nowadays. Shes either holding my hand, in my line of sight, in her buggy or on reins. and I usually have someone else with me (mum, OH, friend) to keep an eye on her too. However, it is different. Turning your back for moments and leaving 3 LOs whilst you have dinner are not the same at all.

 

[indy and lara]

Being a doctor doesn't mean you have common sense clearly.

& in regards to the whole bulger comparison, I wouldn't take my eyes/hands off my LO in a busy shopping centre. Not sure if it was different 20 years ago but defo not nowadays. Shes either holding my hand, in my line of sight, in her buggy or on reins. and I usually have someone else with me (mum, OH, friend) to keep an eye on her too. However, it is different. Turning your back for moments and leaving 3 LOs whilst you have dinner are not the same at all.

I was about to say that things were different years ago. Many parents today seem to live in constant fear that something will happen to their child
but that certainly wasn't the case when I was a child in the 70s. That said, my parents would never have left me in a room alone at night and I would never leave Emma the way the McCanns did. They will live with that guilt for the rest of their lives.

 

[KittyVentura]

Wow! There are a lot of perfect Mothers on here!
Would any of you judge Sara Payne for letting her little girl Sarah go out to play in a field?
How about Casey Mullen? She was at home and her uncle murdered her with her Mum downstairs.
My point is that be your child at home in your arms or in another room, house anywhere.. things can happen. You cannot watch your child at all times.
Yes, Madeleine was left unattended .. a lot of children are. I have been wondering what it may be like for Kate to perhaps stumble across these posts, after all she is a Mum and may already be a member on here! I cant imagine the sheer agony of reading such uncaring, judgemental posts.
I have said before and I will say again... NO ONE can punish themselves more than they already do.
As a parent you can be distracted, tired, frustrated, even just simply switch off and not think about the consequences. We are only human.. being a Mum does not suddenly make you perfect.
I think that just maybe some people on here should just take a step back and just imagine for one second what this family have and are still going through.

I don't think it's a case of anyone being "perfect". Everyone makes MISTAKES. However, as many have already said, a mistake is turning your back when your baby is on the sofa and them rolling off, turning your back for a moment in a shop and having your child abucted and killed (I'd never read the details of the James Bulger case as I was young when it happened but I have just been crying & shaking for 20 minutes having read the facts on Wiki) or trusting your uncle with your child in the Casey Mullen case.

Making a concious decision to leave you children unattended in a room while you selfishly go for dinner is NOT a mistake. That is neglectful and the fact they have not had to go through the courts regarding that is poor.

None of us KNOW what happened. We can only make up our own minds based on our own parental instincts and the "facts" available. IF they are innocent then yes, they are being punished... but not through the courts and they should be. Any punishment in the courts would not compare to the punishment they are already experiencing for sure, however it will make the handling of the case of neglect fair and just.

Most of us are going to judge the McCanns because the whole concept of leaving a child unattended is so foreign and seems so selfish an act.

Comparing Maddies parent's behaviour to that of James Bulger etc is really insulting to them. We all get distracted at times... but there is such a big difference between getting distracted and making a choice to leave your child alone