Hotel advertising their restaurant is within range of baby monitors

[Teakind]

Hello,

I was looking at booking a short break in the UK and found a hotel along the south coast that offers 'baby breaks' as their rooms are close to the restaurant and so most baby monitors would work. AIBU to think this is odd and irresponsible?

I can see the argument that it's a small hotel and so the distance could be similar to being in your lounge and the baby being upstairs but it just doesn't sit comfortably with me. Any weirdo could also see parents sitting at a table with a baby monitor and know that there is a baby/child alone in a room somewhere.

Just interested to see what other people think and I do have a tendency to over worry!

But you do know. People willing to steal a child or do something horrible to one are in fact rather rare. So not only would the hotel have to have such a person, they'd have to know your child was alone, and somehow get your child out of the room without detection.

So on the basis that people wishing to harm a child are rare, is it okay to leave an infant or toddler unattended anywhere else? Maybe in a car outside a pub while the parents have dinner? People wanting to harm children are rare so let’s not worry about keeping an eye on your child in the playground?

And again, the threat of harm from a stranger is not the only reason that leaving a baby or small toddler alone in a hotel room so the parents can have dinner out is a questionable decision!

Ninoo, you’re probably right! I’m so taken aback by some of the contradictions here that I can’t help questioning it but it’s probably quite pointless.

So on the basis that people wishing to harm a child are rare, is it okay to leave an infant or toddler unattended anywhere else?

probably.

Maybe in a car outside a pub while the parents have dinner? People wanting to harm children are rare so let’s not worry about keeping an eye on your child in the playground?

well, now a random passerby can see the child is unattended. So, 1 of the 3 points I mentioned (bad person around knowing child is alone and being able to escape undetected) is no longer true.

Again, the biggest threat from bad adults actually come from adults the child knows. We know this. It's actually rare for children to be taken, and when it does happen, it's usually a parent. Our children are alone with adults we have never met or barely know throughout the day.

Parents do leave babies in prams outside cafes and restaurants in Scandinavia.

www.fatherly.com/why-danish-parents-leave-their-children-outside-in-strollers-1472928436.html

Pictures too,froth away.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21537988

Sweden too.

Sorry, I didn't realise we were Denmark/sweden. Oh wait, we aren't.

Interestingly in Denmark there have only been 3 kidnappings of young children in 30 years. I wonder what the uk rate is?

According to this article there were 900 abductions/kidnappings in the uk in 1 year. Slightly more than 3 in 30 years then. And you wonder why I won't leave my kid alone in a hotel room?

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/child-kidnap-and-abduction-increase-as-crimes-come-under-greater-scrutiny-10062014.html

I'll wager Stockholm and Copenhagen have more crime than my sleepy neck of the woods. Don't recall many abductions in my town.

Your link focused mainly on teen kidnappings by rival gangs and at risk teens a la Rotherham also parental kidnappings.

It was a poor alarmist article. I suspect you knew that though.

It's a ridiculous thing to argue about really. It's up to the individual parents what they think is safe for their children. There's no legal minimum age for leaving a child alone, if the worst were to happen, that's when questions might be raised.

I think people are getting defensive because if someone says they'd never in a million years leave their child in a hotel room, the person that would takes is as an attack on their parenting.

Why else ridicule someone for saying that they wouldn't leave their baby/child in a hotel room? If you want to then fair enough, unlikely any harm will come, but certainly no harm is going to come by not doing it.

I'm not going to ruin my children because I didn't leave them in hotel rooms.

And you wonder why I won't leave my kid alone in a hotel room?

How many of those were from a hotel room?

Thought Not....

Everyone keeps going on about abductions but surely there are more likely events.

Someone could try to rob from the hotel room.

There could be a fire or an evacuation.

What if child falls out of bed and hurts themselves or goes wandering around and hurts themselves.

What if they were sick? Choked?

All unlikely but probably good enough reasons not to leave them unattended in a strange place.