To think this is outrageously irresponsible parenting

I have a sort-of-relative (the sort you only see once in a blue moon, thankfully) who is a bit like this. Her son is older now, but she relied on everyone else to keep an eye on him at events and I personally had to extract him from various dangerous situations, including traffic, strangers, a river, and more - as I'm sure did many others. I'll never forget looking out of my hotel room window at a wedding and seeing him, aged three, running around the car park all alone! Of course I was down there like a shot.

It's inexplicable to me because I always kept such a close eye on my children when they were little (and still worry endlessly about them now they're older!).

This is terrible.
X

And with the staring at phones thing (and a lot of other neglect scenarios, tbh) - you can just bet the so-called parents are counting on it that a woman will start to engage with the kid so they don't have to. I've seen/experienced it so many times.

Poor kids. 🥺

I work i retail (think golden arches)

The building is a two story building-walk in and the stairs are to the right

I cannot count how many times parents walk in,dart upstairs to order their food and then stare,slack jawed into their phones while the kids run riot (which is bad enough)

It's no fun walking around with hot food and drinks and a child runs out in front of you

Outside the main door (past the world's smallest carpark) is a very busy main road-cars zoom down it

Many is the time I've had to grab a toddler just before they get flattened and when you go with them to find their parent,they've not even noticed the child has gone (nor do they seem to care)

One family do it so often (no matter how many times we've 'had a word') I'm amazed she's still got all 5 kids still alive

Her youngest was 13 months when I dragged her away from going under a car-mum was upstairs,gawping at her phone and ignoring her dd's (God knows where the other two where)

Didn't bat an eyelid when I told her what had happened but she'd be the first to howl that it's everyone else's fault if the kid got run over

Really shit parenting. I would have done the same as you OP. I would have not been able to leave him there alone.

I see this attitude so much in soft play and at play cafes. I hate to see parents just sat on their arse drinking coffee and chatting and just ignoring their kids.

It is no surprise that these are the kids who are usually the ones causing trouble, screaming, shouting and generally behaving like wild things. Parent will occasionally shout at the child to stop shouting (ironically), but they will never move or engage with their child. I had this the other day when a child just kept pestering us when we were having lunch at a play cafe and he was screaming and doing all the things on the list of don'ts - Mum didn't bat an eyelid.

I also heard him playing in the play shop and he was saying 'I'm going to steal some things and the police won't be able to catch me'. Mum couldn't be arsed. He was no more than 5. Imagine him at 15 - poor little bugger.

It is. When I was little I was often laughed at for being upset or angry. People think small kids don't register this kind of thing, but I can still remember the feelings of hurt and utter powerlessness it caused me. Some people really shouldn't be parents.

They "fell about laughing"?

I always wondered who on earth could find Mrs Brown's Boys funny - these are those people, who will laugh at anything.

Weirdos

I learned how quickly a float vest can turn a child upside down in a fraction of a second and I was right next to him - scary!

YANBU. It’s not just the lack of physical attention, but they’re clearly happier being in a bar so assume alcohol than spending time with their very young children.

just to add I’m friends with a fair few childless couples, not by their choice and they’d make amazing parents, and when I read these stories it just makes me feel sad.

When we were in France at a campsite with a pool two years ago, we watched a toddler be saved after sinking to the bottom of the pool. Nobody had been watching him and strangers had to dive down and pull him up on the side and try to resuscitate him. It shook us all up. But yes, there are parents out there who don’t seem to think supervising their kids is necessary! Funnily enough, the parents in question weren’t laughing whilst their child was being revived by lifeguards.

When my son was younger and having swimming lessons a woman used to come to the pool every week with a very young toddler, she looked like she was maybe his grandmother not mum. She’d leave him in the toddler pool and go and do lengths by herself in the adult pool. She’d leave wouldn’t once even look at him. I would spend every Saturday watching this child whilst my husband watched our son as I was terrified he’d drown. Some people are so clueless on the dangers of water.

Makes you wonder what they do to her behind closed doors. Sound like psychopaths.

There really aren't loads of kids being abducted in recent years the only one I know of in recently is the McCann, case and that was clearly a case of neglect but as the parents were professionals they were seen wholly as victims. Its tragic yes of course, but you should never leave very young kids alone,

regardless of the water, I don't think any toddler should be left alone. I grew up at a time when I had a lot of freedom but certainly not that young.

Were you at La Croix ? We just left that park.

I know of a family that were outside in their garden and had a small paddling pool with a small amount of water (3 inches). The adults were around but for a short amount of time no one was watching the children and the pool. A tiny crawling baby got in somehow and drowned.

Tragedy in a very short time. Awful.

My god, these stories of poor parenting are depressing. Poor wee babies 😢

Some folk shouldn't have children.

There are some parents who should be mindful of the safety of their young children, at home and abroad, given that over the years there has been several high profile cases of small children being abducted/murdered/ vanished forever......

I agree mainly with you. But there is a big difference between a soft play and a swimming pool. Leaving a toddler in a swimming pool alone is wildly dangerous. Letting a toddler explore a soft play might irritate you or others but is ultimately not a serious safety matter.

More stories of toddlers drowning in pools just this summer!

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15925223/British-toddler-dies-hotel-pool-family-holiday-Canary-Islands.html

Unfortunately 10 children died by drowning in pools in 1 single week this year. 9 of them had no parent nearby when they went under the water - these idiots should be charged with manslaughter.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/39610546/urgent-warning-parents-children-drowning-holiday-hotspot/

Some people shouldn't be parents, more interested in drinking at the bar than parenting.

Things do go wrong around water and you hear of children that have drown and parents like that appear to think it's everyone else's job to watch out for their kids.

Maddie McCann a famous missing child case, left in an unlocked room with her younger siblings whilst parents were eating and drinking, not in eyesight, at a Tapas bar. Didn't turn out well and still no idea where she is or if even alive.

It’s for management to deal with not waiters. They would pass it upwards.