To think this is outrageously irresponsible parenting

On holiday a few years ago with friends and we noticed a young child, about 3 years old, alone in the pool. She just had armbands on. Looked around for who she was with, no sign of anyone. Me and my friend ended up walking around the pool, asking people if she was their child. Still no luck so reported it to a member of staff who put a call out over the tannoy.
Parents were in the jacuzzi, which was through another door off the swimming pool area....
Why do they think it's ok to do that??

That poor child. There was a post recently from a lady who's child had tipped back and his head gone under water in the second she looked away while he was in one of those life vests so it's lucky the toddler didn't do the same (ps I hope the op from that post managed to stop feeling awful about that poor love)

I was thinking about that thread too. There are some real idiot irresponsible parents around. 🙁

No, they'd be too busy blaming various innocent people, probably including the OP and planning to sue the resort.

In my nhs job (not even a bit patient facing) we have to do safeguarding children mandatory training, because safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility. Wonder if that’s why there’s not liability, but a want to tell a more “adultier” adult

We’ve been on 2 Eurocamp holidays this summer and I’m with you! I saw this repeatedly over the three weeks we spent in France! Kids were repeatedly left unsupervised some with swimming vest and some without. My mind boggles that parents expect other people to supervise their kids. Having a swim vest on doesn’t make your child safe! On another note I have been left unimpressed by EuroCamp this year, it has certainly gone down hill!

My brother is like this. He was very vocal in wanting me to have two boys ‘because they will fight and it’s funny.’ Weirdo.

I thought you were going to say the parents were oblivious because they were glued to their phones. I’ve seen this too often, at both pool and beach.

Lots of mums at softplays get into fights? What? I've been to lots of soft plays and never seen this. Same for kids fighting...what type of softplays do you go to?

Completely irresponsible. The fact they weren't even in swimwear, and we're stood a fair distance away, at the bar, tells you all you need to know. Their priorities weren't their children, but having drinks at the bar.

Children shouldn't be left unattended in water, especially very young children. It takes seconds for something to go wrong.

Unfortunately, some people really shouldn't be parents. They are selfish and incapable of putting their children's needs above their own wants.

WTF? They are absolute idiots - their poor children.

Had a similar incident, I was waiting for DD to come out of an activity which had a dance studio next door, parked across the road, with a 60kph speed limit. The alarm on the car in front of me started going off and suddenly a little boy of around 4 emerged from the back seat onto the pavement, looking really shocked and scared. I went to him and he said he’d been asleep and been left in the car. Once he calmed down a bit he realised where he was and said that Mum was probably picking up his sister from dancing. The studio was glass fronted and I could see a lot of parents there. I explained I could take him to find his mum but he would have to hold my hand to cross the road, which he did. When we got inside the studio he ran to his mum who put her hand on his head and just carried on her conversation, didn't even question how he’d got there! I’m not usually confrontational but I did shout across the busy reception area and tell her how lucky she was!

And I think I’ve told this story before but once at a local beach (we’re in Australia) there was a large family near the shore line with an inflatable swan. A little girl around 5 was playing in it. Next thing we see all this commotion and people running, look to see what they’re running towards and its the swan, much further along the beach and out past the buoys that mark the safe swimming area, so in deep water and with jet skis etc, turns out the 5 year old was still in it. A guy in a canoe got to her first and kept her calm and then a jet skier brought her back in, several adults who’d attempted to swim to her also needed rescued. Very much a case of there was so many adults in their group, they all thought someone else was watching her.

Have there ever actually been any cases of parents told to leave a campsite because a child was in a pool?

Sorry - I’m not being difficult, I’m just pointing out that nothing actually ever happens.

on our holiday this summer, I lost count of the number of kids (mainly around 3-7) getting out of their depth and struggling before another nearby adult (not their own parent) helped them to the side. Probably about 2-3 kids per day. Each time I would usually clock the child and other adults close by. Then the adults have to first check we haven't missed a parent, that the child really does need help and the adult is not acting inappropriately by helping (you can see these thoughts going through the other adults minds). By this point the child is usually quite distressed but the actual 'assistance' is usually quite quick. Most were struggling just out of reach of the steps.
once helped to the steps they would usually run straight for their parents who would be set back on a sun lounger reading or in several cases completely with their backs to the pool.
this happened so frequently I couldn't even alert parents due to a) not being able to leave my own kids and b) not knowing what reaction you would get.

Exactly - what is the alternative? To watch someone else's child for ages until the parent finally turns up? What if you're trying to watch your own children? If you make staff aware, then at least there's a chance that SOMEONE is watching the poor child if you get up and go inside or have to attend to your own children.

Obviously, taking the child to its parents is the first recourse, but quite often you don't know who or where they are.

A few days ago I was at the supermarket, picking up a trolley just outside, when I noticed a toddler standing alone on the curb next to a car that was pulling away. The car drove out of the space and a little way along in front of the store, with the toddler watching it and calling out to her mother, who was in the passenger seat, looking out the window at her child and smiling. The car stopped then, the woman opened the door to ask the child to come to her. The little one then ran away laughing towards the store, so parents had to get out of the car and grab her.
Why you would leave a toddler in a car park and drive away (no matter how short the distance)? I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and I’m shocked that there’s a whole thread full of similar and worse.

Something was happening to her, she was being emotionally abused by her parents. That poor child.

This is very similar to another thread on here recently. What’s with all these parents on holiday leaving their kids to drown, get lost or be abducted??

That’s a ridiculous view. Joe Bloggs challenges their parenting and child safety-they know it’s just an opinion. A member of staff does it the offending parents can be told to leave and loose their holiday

I was walking along a street when I heard a young child screaming in fear, I expected to hear an adult reply to him but didn’t so I kept listening out and he was screaming over and over ‘I’m all alone! I’m all alone!’ . I started looking for him and saw him leaning half body out of a car window, looking blind panicked with fear, and screaming that sentence over and over. He looked four at most, maybe three. So I went to speak with him and help him calm down, and I was there talking with him for a good ten minutes. I had just decided to call the police, as I had my own child I needed to pick from nursery, when his mum finally showed up, not a care in the world and asked me if I knew him from school (!), and then when I explained the situation acted like her son was the daft one for being scared! This was a wealthy women in an expensive car, in an affluent area. What had happened was she wanted to go to the shops, her young child had just woken up, had said he didn’t want to go to the shops, so she had left him there as if a sleepy 3/4 year old had made an informed choice! She had a much older child with her too, so it wasn’t like she was a first time parent. Her utter lack of guilt or recognition she had done anything wrong was sickening. Anyone could have quickly pulled that child through the car window and taken him. And even without that, he was completely terrified.

No, because you are a responsible parent. Those other people saw the lifeguards and decided to put the responsibility onto them. And other people around the pool.

Ds was about 10 (ish) and a bloody strong swimmer

I was at the side of the pool (heavily pregnant and ghe size of a double decker bus) with his much younger siblings (who where in the buggy)

I turned for a second not noticing as had come up behind us and he slipped and fell in

It was that fast-thankfully the lifeguard got him out and he was fine

I was sat there,watching them closely and in the second it took to pass his brother a drink,he'd fallen in

I've never been so scared in my whole life-thankfully he made a massive splash and the lifeguard got him out as I realised what had happened

How anyone can wander off and leave them is beyond me

My father is a gardener (he does it all the organic way-no chemicals) and part of this is having frogs in his garden

It's not unusual to be at theirs and a frog jumps past

The 'pond' is ds's old baby bath-its not a massive pond but big enough for frogspawn/a handful of frogs

To get to it,you have to walk down to the greenhouse at the bottom of the garden,wade through about 5 feet of nettles and hunt for it (you wouldn't see it until you stood in it)

I never let the dc in that garden without an adult (normally me as my parents would have wandered off)

My parents thought it was overkill and 'it wouldn't happen' (my parents just don't see danger-'it'll be right' is their catchphrase) but it was still a risk-no matter how small

Not a chance would I have left them to be near water on their own-and it still happened with me next to him

I absolutely take your point that telling staff is not always going to be effective, unfortunately, but it's certainly worth a try (and, as I say, someone as senior as possible).

Legal responsibility is vanishingly unlikely to fall on the head of the individual staff member you tell, as you say (even if they do nothing and should have) but it may very well fall on the business, which is why speaking to someone senior and having a passing understanding of the possible liability for the business stands the best chance of getting results.

Far from guaranteed, I agree, but always worth giving it a shot in my opinion. At best, it prevents a terrible accident (though you'll never know what would have happened otherwise) and at worst at least if something bad happens you'll know you did what you could.

Not unreasonable at all OP.
If it happens again take child to life guards and say he's unsupervised.

Unfortunately a minority of parents think this is perfectly acceptable. We had it on holiday in Greece, I helped a 3-4 year old after he got stuck submerged with an inflatable ontop of him - his parents were in the bar. The boy was Italian so we told the lifeguard after getting him onto the side the hotel read them the riot act about supervision.