Parenting FAIL

[Jester]

To be fair, at 10 I was wandering around on my own myself. 10 and exploring is not the same thing as 6 and being tasked with caring for 2 toddlers in a hotel room.

I am not saying that this is the case with the kids you are referring to. I am just saying that, depending on the hours, they may just be kids being kids. Of course, they may be neglected kids with fuckwad parents as well. I'm just playing Devil's Advocate and offering some possibilities.

[Kristev]

She never heard of hiring a teenage girl from the neighborhood? That's what most people do when they need a babysitter.

[Jester]

Concert tickets: $200.
Hotel room: $130.
Cabs to and from the concert: $50.
Drinks at the concert: $40.
Unhired babysitter: $0

Having the police bust your sorry ass for leaving your kids alone in a hotel room without a babysitter while you're off at a concert:



PRICELESS!!!

(No, these two were not arrested for this crime, but as they WERE arrested for child abuse, I really have zero problem putting their mugshots up here. Especially since what they were arrested for was far, far worse than the story about the concertgoers...)

[AmbrosiaWriter]

I am not saying that this is the case with the kids you are referring to. I am just saying that, depending on the hours, they may just be kids being kids. Of course, they may be neglected kids with fuckwad parents as well. I'm just playing Devil's Advocate and offering some possibilities.

Now, I don't think they're neglected or abused or anything. But leaving them alone in a hotel for hours on end (concerts are typically a late afternoon into late night affair) was not a smart idea. If (deities forbid) one of the children got hurt (I've heard plenty of stories of kids jumping on the bed, falling off, and breaking their arm or collar bone) who would be considered liable?

Did the little girl know to call 911 in an emergency? (I'll assume yes.) However, then the police and ambulance would've showed up and then the parents would've been in real trouble.

[Jester]

Now, I don't think they're neglected or abused or anything. But leaving them alone in a hotel for hours on end (concerts are typically a late afternoon into late night affair) was not a smart idea.

Oh, I agree with you on that incident, as the oldest of the three girls in the hotel room was 6. But they were not the kids I was referring to. I was talking about the 9 or 10 year olds in Food Lady's cafe:

There are two kids in particular who come to our cafe 5 or 6 times a night on a Sunday. They have money, but I never see the parents. The parents could be in the mall, but I've never seent them. These 2 kids are like 9 or 10 (friends, I think; don't think they're brothers).

HUGE difference between a couple 9 year olds hanging out in a cafe on their own and a 6 year old being left in charge of her 2 toddler siblings in a hotel room for hours on end. HUGE difference.

[Merriweather]

Yep. They would.

Some years ago there was a case here where this couple left their 3 kids alone in their hotel room while they (the parents) went to a concert in town. The kids were 6, 4 and 2 years old. The 6 year old couldn't get the younger kids to go to bed so she left the room looking for an adult to help. Cops were called, parents were found, excuses were made....Mom stated that "I know it seems weird but she's very mature for her age." (meaning the 6 yr old).

Don't people like this ever read the news to know what can happen to kids left alone in unfamiliar places? Sure, most of the time the kids are perfectly safe and no harm happens, but why would you gamble your child's safety with even small odds of something happening? The case that springs to my mind is the 4 year old girl, put to bed with her two baby siblings in their room at a resort in Portugal, and left alone while the parents had dinner at a restaurant in the resort. Five years later, that little girl is still missing.