To think this is outrageously irresponsible parenting

[CaffeinatedMum]

On holiday in France at a Eurocamp park. Yesterday I was in the outdoor pool and noticed a little boy maybe around 18 months, certainly no older than a young 2, bobbing around by himself in a float vest. For context my six year old was out of his depth in all of this pool apart from the steps to get in, so it wasn’t a toddler type splash pool.

I watched him for a minute as he didn’t seem to have anyone with him and then both me and another lady went up to him to ask him where his mummy or daddy was, obviously he didn’t reply as was very young. Led him to the steps and his older sister came rushing up to him, I can’t imagine she was more than five (considerably smaller than my six year old).

Long story short, the parents were watching the kids from the bar nearby with their friends. This isn’t a pool bar and they weren’t in swimwear. it’s the other side of a gate and foot bath. So yes you can see the kids but you’re a fair distance away, not just on a lounger next to it,

They absolutely fell about with laughter when their son was helped out of the pool.

I genuinely can’t believe how irresponsible this parenting was… I am assuming I will get a unanimous YANBU but obviously there are parents out there who think this is not only ok but funny.

Now kicking myself for not saying anything to them about it but didn’t want to cause a scene, they were quite a big intimidating group standing their laughing their heads off.

You've done everything you could have done. The situation with the XL bully sounds horrendous. I'm also surprised that wasn't in the news tbh.

She rocked up and sat at a table

The ds sat with his back to me and as I got to them,he turned round

I don't shock easily but Jesus on a pushbike-he didn't have a face-it was stitches,blood and a bit of skin

He'd been sent round to the house,sat down and reached for something

It went for him-hes very lucky to be alive

It's the only time I've ever been able to tell him apart from his brother

Not HER fault-she only sent him round to the house

I've seen her dc in the street alone,throwing stones at passing cars and playing 'chicken' (it's a game where you fling yourself out in front of a car to see it it stops in time)

The child (who was about 18 months old at the time) is very lucky the car in front of us did stop

We went to ring the police but she ran off with her sisters (who where younger than 5 at the time) and we didn't see where they went-they where that fast

Mum was nowhere to be seen (I've never met dad-im told hes from a culture where he doesnt do anything with his dc)

I'm honestly amazed ss are not all over this family/one has ended up dead

Bloody hell the whole family sound like an absolute shit show. I'm honestly shocked. I guess I knew these people existed but I've never met any IRL.

I see at least one a shift

We all have 'fuck!that could have gone so badly wrong!' moments with our kids (I've certainly had a few)

Some people just shouldn't have kids-im not being a bitch (I'm hardly perfect myself) but some just don't care

It's beyond me why they bother

I had this once. Was swimming with my son and a kid who was about 5 kept coming up to us and interrupting. He could swim a bit, but not well and he kept going under a little and drinking the water, so we basically spent our swimming lesson being harrased by a kid desperately wanting some attention. His Dad was just sat by the side of the pool watching, then fucked off for a sauna leaving him with us - twice - even though I asked him to get him. I even stayed in the pool whilst he was steaming his massive lard arse away in the sauna because I didn't want to leave the kid unattended.

Eventually I left, waited where the guy couldn't see me but could see his kid still, and lo and behold he decided to come out to look after his kid. At this point I called him useless (yes in front of my son, but at least he can see you can't just dump your kids on anyone without annoying them and he agreed the man wasn't a good parent).

He did strike me as a divorcee taking his kid out. Wonder why. 😂

They would not be liable at all. As long as their property meets all local regulations, they have no liability for any accident on their property. They’d have to be proven to be at fault and nowhere in any regulations anywhere in the world does it say a business holds any in loco parentis responsibility for children. Even under our U.K. “duty of care” legal responsibility, that is limited to what is reasonable.

They may have a moral duty, they would certainly want to avoid any bad publicity, but that’s entirely different from being liable.

I'm with you - if I saw a toddler in the pool alone without an obvious adult around I'd worry about it too. I'd never leave my DC alone in the water (8 & 5) because they're not strong swimmers. My eldest was rolling her eyes at me on our recent holiday for insisting she stay at a depth where she could touch the bottom of the pool and not sneak off into the deep end. It just takes 2 minutes for something to go wrong in water.

This does not surprise me. In my lufeguarding days, I only had to fish kids out a couple of times, and they hadborth been told not to do the things they did,but parents can get very defensive when you suggest their child isn't a strong enough swimmer to go on the inflatable animal- and then they wait until the lifeguards move stations (ad we did every 20 minutes,) and they lue and say the other lifeguard said it was okay (as if we never talked to each other. Obviously they never said, "thank you for saving my child, I should have listened to you."

Though I do remember with pleasure the time we took all the foam toys out, because we were at capacity. Most people were okay with this, but one woman was getting very arsey about it, and insisted on the manager being called, so he came out, and she started on about how the customer always comes first, and he very calmly replied, "no madam, at this pool, safety always comes first, and my lifeguards are doing just as I expect. Please get dressed and see me in reception " (Thank you, Tim.)

It is probably.the most responsible job I've had - if you fuck up, people can die. The worst that could happen in all the jobs sinc is that people could lose money - but they seem to worry about that far more.

@CaffeinatedMum Its so common. I was on holiday last year and a couple left their toddler in the kids pool with a rubber ring and armbands. The kid fell over and got stuck head down with the rubber ring pushing his legs up, coughing and spluttering in the water.
Parents didn't even notice that we pulled him out.
People should never rely on buoyancy aids or lifeguards to replace their responsibilities as parents.

Things like this make me want to cry. And we wonder why there are so many screwed up adults walking around. How could someone laugh at any child in distress, let alone their own flesh and blood.

And to the OP - you are in the right. Those parents are a bloody disgrace, that poor baby could have drowned. Honestly some people don't deserve to have kids.

Wow that’s terrible. Some parents prioritise alcohol and socialising above their children on holiday. Terrible

I know of a 5 year old child who jumped headfirst into a pool abroad and ended up with a life changing brain injury and was disabled for life and those parents had only turned their backs for a moment to attend to their other child. It takes seconds for something horrific to happen.

My MIL had a close friend who dived head first into a pool when she was 19 and was paralysed from the neck down for the rest of her life. She had to blow into a tube to make her wheelchair move and had round the clock carers. her fiancè left her soon after the accident. So very sad.

Yes, tragic accidents do happen. However, the news shared above indicated that in a large proportion of drownings abroad, parents weren't nearby!