Unthinkable

I have been following a story in the news that broke last week I believe. A family on holiday in the Algarve, Portugal has had one of their three children, Madeline, almost 4 years old, taken from them. That alone is horrible enough, and I can't imagine the hell they are going through at the moment.but the circumstances surrounding the disappearance are quite astonishing. The couple, Garry and Kate, were out having a meal together at the time while their three children were sleeping. They were having a meal at the place they were staying and were going back to the room to check on their kids every 30 minutes. In one of the periods between them checking, someone obviously went in and took the child.

Predictably, as a new(ish) parent myself, my initial response was anger and I posted on a forum the other day how disgusted I was that they would leave their three children unsupervised and that I wouldn't leave B alone for thirty seconds, let alone thirty minutes. W wrote a response saying sometimes you can't help but leave your child alone sometimes (not, obviously for such a long period of time as mentioned above) as if you didn't you wouldn't get anything done. She told me later that night that she was originally going to post that we have both been guilty in the past of leaving B in our (locked) car when we have gone and paid for petrol. This scared the hell out of me as it just highlights how easy it is to switch off. Leaving her in a locked car is something you perceive as safety, but it only takes a second for a thief to break into a car and drive off with it. I will certainly be more careful about that in the future and, where possible, I will purchase petrol when I am alone (either that or B will come in with me to pay). Knowing her, I doubt it will be long before she wants to hand the money over herself anyway!

As I write this Madeline has still not been found and I am beginning to fear the worst. Whilst I cannot believe the parents could act so irresponsibly, I can't help but feel sorry for them. In their continuing coverage of the story, the media, on one hand echo the sentiments of any parent and are praying for Madeline's safe return. On the other hand, they, along with the correspondence of the general public have been quite damning of the parents' actions. Of course, this is the last thing they need at the moment. I really hope Madeline is found soon, and most important of all, that she is unharmed. However, I can't stop thinking what sort of emotional damage this can do to a young child and her family. This, hopefully, is a wake-up call to any couples that may be guilty of doing something similar with their children. It certainly has been for me.