Maddie McCann and other sad turns of events

I have taken a couple of days off from blogging because I was feeling a little lazy to sit down and type, but I have had all these thoughts bouncing about my head and needed an outlet.

I feel for the parents of sweet little Madeline, but let's get back to the facts here, people! These are two highly-educated, reasonably well-off people who made the decision to leave their 3 children alone, asleep, with the door open, while they went off and had dinner with friends; not only that, but from what eye witnesses have said, it did not sound like the first time that they did that on their vacation.

Did it not occur to these people to hire a babysitter? They were in a resort area, and I am betting that babysitting help could have been found. Secondly, takeout dinners - does that concept ring a bell?

I hope that Madeline is found alive, but I have serious doubts about her parents; I even have doubts about whether the other children should be allowed to stay with them. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about this -- we too know people who have left their children alone while they have gone over to neighbor's houses, and have used thier baby monitors to listen for their children. This whole ugly, sad tale should be a cautionary tale to everyone: no one knows if Maddie wandered off to find her parents, or if someone came in and kidnapped her (which leads to the question of why not take the younger kids as well?)? In the end, it's Maddie and probably her siblings who ended up paying the highest price in this whole unfortunate series of events.


I am by no means the best parent out there -- after all, I did mention on a couple of occasions wanting to list my kids on Ebay when they were more than a handful, and my daughter did lock me out off the house and the car -- but I am terrified of what the kids would do if I was gone even for a little while; it's not a chance that I am willing to take. If anyone out there knows whether it is a crime to leave your kids alone while you go over to the neigbors for awhile, will you let me know? Is that child abuse? I can't imagine that this is something that the law would allow you to do.

OK, now here's the other part that I don't get -- why have people like J.K. Rowling, David Beckham and Richard Branson chosen to make this their cause? Yes, I understand that all of these people are parents, but the cynical part of me is wishing that missing children all over the world would warrant such attention as well!

(Hey, like I said, this is the cynical part of me talking and sometimes it's hard to shut her up)

This by no means is an attack at Maddie and her parents, but I am curious as to why people have forgotten how this whole sorry tale came about in the first place.

~~~~~ Heat Wave ~~~~~~

It is unbelievably hot here today, and I remember hearing some people say, 'This is Africa hot!"

News flash people - I have lived, worked and played in Africa, and it gets hot there, but not steamy and uncomfortable like this. It's so hot here in Richmond today that the temp reading in my car reads 105 -- in the shade! I long for winter, not autumn, winter with lots and lots of snow and if you get cold, you can pile on more blankets, another sweater or have some gluwein (that's German mulled wine for those who don't know what that is. It's very good and goes down smoothly and before you realise it, you don't feel cold anymore, just toasty (LOL)).

On a more serious note, I was reading Yahoo! news a couple of weeks ago, and I saw an article about people who forget their children in the car. It was an awful article and my heart was breaking for those parents who have gone through it. It brought about the question of what one should do should you happen to see someone do that; I have often waited to run errands with Matt or the babysitter, so that they can wait with the kids in the car, because sometimes you can accomplish things much faster that way. I prefer to not have to drag them around when it's so hot or cold that it makes the trip unpleasant for everyone.

So, what do you do if you see this happening? Do you call the police? Do you say something to the parents? What about parents who leave their kids alone at night (when the kids are asleep) and go over to the neighbors for a drink? Is that legal? Should we say something? I would be interested in hearing what people have to say about this and if there is a law about this somewhere out there?