Holiday mum keeps sending her son over to us repeatedly

[ItsPriya]

Currently on holiday - 2 week AI with husband and teenage daughter. Had a really busy year and was really looking forward to downtime and just recharging with the 3 of us.
On the second day was relaxing by the pool when a little boy about 4yo dropped his goggles near my lounger. Threw them into the pool for him, he threw them back and we had a little game of catch with them. Really sweet kid, thought no more of it.
Went to the buffet that night and the boy appeared at my feet as I was getting my food, started pulling at my arm, hanging off me whining "play with me" and asking me to go outside with him to play?!
My daughter came up to me and said she'd been passing his parents table and heard the mum say "he's whinging because hes tired, I told him to go play with that woman from earlier." Laughing and drinking while I'm trying to get my food and stop her kid from getting lost or hurt.
Went to sit down, said "I'm eating now, so go back to Mummy." Watched him go back over, his mum looked really annoyed, said something to him and he came back!
He said "my mum said I can sit with you until you're done then we can play."
Tried to eat but he was non stop, picking things up, touching things, whinging - not my child, why am I dealing with this?!
In the end DH walked him back over and firmly said we were trying to eat. Mum had the nerve to ask if our daughter had ever been a toddler.
Anyway, he harassed me at the entertainment that night to the point we left as I couldn't see his Mum so dropped him with the entertainment team. Makes DH very uncomfortable as he's very full on, climbing on our knees, wrapping his legs around us.
Breakfast this morning - he's actually waiting at the double doors and it was a repeat of the previous night. I actually suspect Mum is hiding from us.

What do I do?!

What an absolute sweetheart your DD is, hope you have a fab rest of your holiday!

How lovely of your daughter.
I am sure that his interactions with your family will have been the best part of his holiday.

Poor kid. 💔 Hopefully he'll be going to school soon and will make friends.

Your DD is lovely, as are you for giving that poor wee soul some attention.

A curse on his family for being shitheads..

The difference is though that he's being almost forced into over-friendliness through clearly neglectful parents. He's way too young to be being allowed to wander around unsupervised. My dd is 8 and has always ended up leaving holidays like this with a couple of holiday besties. I encourage this because I think it's great for lots of reasons. She is at the age where I do let her wander a little bit with new friends etc. However I still always pretty much know exactly where she is. If she is hanging about with new friends I am still watching her like a hawk and I go over and introduce myself to the parents and make very clear to them that they can send her back to me any time and I'm open to dd's friends hanging about with us for a bit if they want as well so it's fair. This is completely different because the kid is too young to be doing this and this family don't even have another kid his age so it's really inappropriate

I'm a bit of a soppy gimp but that made me cry. I hope that wee pet cherishes his teddy and knows that lots of people love him, just his parents are awful. Try and ask the bar staff where they said they're from. Poor wee soul it breaks my heart. What your daughter did was such a beautiful thing. He will know now that even though he wasn't allowed to sit by you all the time, that you cared about him. I'm going to keep him in my prayers and his grotty parents that they change their ways. Now go and enjoy yourself OP!!

Absolutely nobody said she should be looking after him, what are you on about? You've just made that shit up. Just because we can see the wee pet is in need doesn't mean any of us think she should meet those needs. Nor was that ever said.

Yay enjoy the rest of your holiday!! Poor boy, fingers crossed he’ll be at school soon and can make some friends

Poor little soul, you wonder what his home life is like? What a lovely thing for your DD to do. Hopefully, once he is in school, not only will he make friends but the neglect will be flagged. Enjoy the rest of your holiday, OP!

You need to let the uk social services know! This is neglect. Remember mcann? You need to either email 101 and as much info as possible. And you need to let your UK rep know too! Poor child. He’ will have something awful happening to him, and I think if you can’t be arsed to do whats right for that boy then there is no point in you posting here.

You can discretely take pictures of the parents.

What a lovely, kind DD you have, you must be very proud of her. She clearly takes after her mum. That poor little boy will remember your kindness to him, for a long time, I’m sure.

Now make sure you enjoy the rest of your holiday, starting with a large glass of wine with your lunch.

Honestly? It’s a pity but social services will only get involved if they have serious grounds for neglect and abuse. That the parents allow / encourage their son to pester other people on holiday, don’t seem particularly engaged and are rough as fuck won’t be anywhere enough.

Plus they could (legitimately) get cross if you go around taking surreptitious photos of them. The time for that has passed, they have left.

Bless your daughter.

Hope the little boy is ok but a sad future if his home life is the same. 😔 Positive thoughts he's got a nice grandma or someone waiting at home.

If you suspect this child is being neglected, report to nspcc, with as many details as possible.

Don’t be daft.

Report what? I know his first name. That's it. I don't know where he lives and I certainly wasn't going to start probing his family.
He will have teachers, neighbours who know a lot more about him and his home life than someone who met him for a few days and spent very minimal time with him.

That boy will remember the kindness from your family for a very long time.

Enjoy your holiday!

@ItsPriya what a lovely kind girl you're raising. I'm guessing she's following your example of being kind despite the situation. Apples don't fall far from the tree.
Poor little boy. There are some really rotten selfish parents around for sure.

I thought about this last night and I'm back to check they left.
So glad for you OP.
Parents should apply for a licence before having kids.

So please for you OP. I came back to this thread to check if they'd gone! Your daughter sounds lovely. I'm sure you will think of the little boy for a long time, but you did what you could for him. Relax and enjoy the rest of your stay!

And send to social services for them to do what? OP doesn't know their names or where they live. There isn't a central database of photographs of everyone in the UK! And social services dont have access to police databases (which would require the parents to be criminals as well as shit parents).
It's awful but OP has done all she can. A small moment of kindness

What a lovely DD you have, you must be really proud of her. Hearing that made me tear up a little.

I hope you can now enjoy the rest of your holiday x

Pleased to hear this, OP.

Your daughter was really kind to give him that teddy.

If he's 4, he'll be starting school in September. They'll get the measure of situation soon enough (if they're not already aware). For some children, the safest place is at school. Let that give you some reassurance.

It is possible there was a Liverpool family escorted off the plane a few years ago. It was mainly because how guests had seen the children treated. I know the dad was made to stay in a different room and think they had to leave earlier. But think it has to be the hotel who reports them.

Hello is that social services? yes, I'd like to report something serious - a small boy left on his own at times at the pool in a resort. No his parents didn't leave him in the resort they were in the bar. No I didn't call the local police - sure they'd have laughed at me. No, I don't know the name of the boy or his address. No not his school either but I do have this slightly odd-angled photo of his parents and I know they were staying at this resort in a foreign country on these dates. how many other people were staying there? Several hundreds I should say.