To think this is outrageously irresponsible parenting

That's the stuff of nightmares!

That little girl could literally have been MILES away before anyone noticed! God, that makes my skin crawl.

People laughing at a child in distress? Absolute loons!

Oh my God. That's horrific.

If course if the poor child drowned it would be someone else's fault.

This is so upsetting 😔

And you know what... Those kids only remain safe as other adults keep an eye on them, even though they don't want the responsibility of keeping an eye on another person's kid - but they couldn't live with themselves if something happened.
You wonder how many accidents are prevented by strangers looking out for the left-alone kids.

This, exactly

Where abouts in France is it? I had a similar experience in one in France and it was a large group of intimidating French families, they stole stuff like shoes and towels too!

I'd agree that young children need watching constantly around a pool. At 9 I'd keep an eye out but not out and out hypervigilance. My 12yo is allowed off on his own. He's a strong swimmer.

Many people in UK don't teach their children to swim until they go on holiday whereas in mainland Europe those children were swimming from the age of dot. Not saying they don't have tragic accidents, but they are more accustomed to the water and its dangers than we are, because of lack of exposure to it in UK and our generally non conducive weather.

We spent years going to Euro camp and some of the mainland European parents would not cope with the UK parenting style. They definitely seem to have a far more laid back approach and if they get hurt that's a lesson they'll learn type vibe.
I think with some things maybe that's fair but their lack of pool safety is frightening.
The reason lifeguards/other parents etc were not reacting is because this is mostly the norm.
Not saying it's right, I absolutely do not think it is but it's their normal.

When you think of the IQ level of some of these people who were probably raised in a very similar way by their parents, to know they don't even think about Actions leading to Consequences.

Utterly bereft of Critical analysis skills

This is terrible but then how do you think tragedies happen with toddlers wandering off and kids drowning in pools? You hear on the news parents saying "we only looked away for a second" and of course it may be that, but I would imagine more often than not its moronic parenting that is responsible. Like McCann tragedy. I mean, who TF does that?

it does make you wonder how so many children survive their parents' idiocy.

just yesterday I was cycle along a main road and there was a father who clearly thought he was Dad of the Year, cycling with what could only have been a 2 year old tot on the handlebars of his bike. Not only that, he had a cordon on his bike attached to a second child's bike pulling the child along.

I mean talk about spot the brain cell. It was a tragedy waiting to happen, he only needed one distraction to lose his balance and that tiny little child will have been thrown off and been crushed.

They will blame everyone but themselves when one of their kids is badly hurt because of their neglect.

I read that. The poor mum was shaken up which is understandable, and felt very guilty! She certainly wasn't laughing! What is wrong with these parents?

Not to make it about that whole other story but I do think this was the social phenomenon going on with the famous Tapas crew.

Peer pressure, basically.

I think people go into holiday mode and think nothing bad could happen. And if they're with friends, especially friends who don't have kids, the friends encourage them to lower their (possibly already low) level of supervision. Add on alcohol and you have a recipe for disaster.

If you're genuinely concerned about, say, an unattended child in the pool, of course you should tell staff. If they can't or won't help, isn't it your responsibility to insist they call a manager? After all, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.

Sadly I've seen similar when abroad. I've had to approach parents a few times to watch their young children. Its usually met with mind your own business.

The mums get in fights? Do you mean actual physical ones? 😧

I posted on another thread recently about a 4 year old who was left in a pool in Greece on his own. He drowned.

I agree safeguarding is everyone’s business but nothing will happen unless it’s part of an overall picture.

Does surprise me - we were on the beach in Spain while on holiday earlier in the summer, DC had made friends with a couple of kids (young primary) earlier in the day at kids club, saw them in the beach later on and they naturally wanted to play together. Parents completely ignored their kids as they went in the water. They wanted to go much deeper than mine and I kept having to call them back in case the tide was too strong. Madness

It should be. Any place catering to the public should have a lost child policy and the staff should be briefed in the policy. Safeguarding is everyone's business

This makes me so mad because I’ve never been very “mumsy” and used to often doubt myself. DD is now 11 and I’ll let her do things/go places on her own like to the toilet in a restaurant. And I’ll still panic sometimes and think “has she been a while, what if something’s wrong?!”. Couldn’t imagine ever doing something like this. We went to Greece last year just the two of us and on a boat trip she was taught how to use a paddle board by the captain but couldn’t get to grips with it and floated just a bit too far away (were loads of people and me in the water) but she panicked and I had to try and swim to her and I felt awful. Like a really shit mum.

Were recently at a theme park and to be fair I didn’t notice until they came back and someone started having a go at them. But there was a baby and toddler sleeping in a pushchair that someone had parked up and left to go on a rollercoaster! The mind boggles.

Yes - irresponsible.

But one of my DDs was able to swim well at 2 years. I of course still watched her like a hawk, but was in trouble at one pool for allowing her to swim in the deep end and dive in, even though it was clear she could swim like a fish.