Parents Assigning Blame For Child Drowned In Holiday Hotel Pool

[Anngel]

I am dumbstruck. On the news it was broadcast that parents left a 5 year old girl on her own to go and buy (Her?) a drink. She wandered into a nearby swimming pool and drowned. Now the parents are trying to apportion blame. Surely, it is their responsibility to make sure their child is safe. With two of you there one would stay with the child. In the real world...surely?????

[zebo]

For many people, accepting their own responsibility is very hard, someone else is always responsible, not them.

[2sp_]

Grief can cause you to blame everyone and everything around you. It's maybe too hard and painful for them at the moment to accept that they should have been watching her more carefully.

[Butterbun]

parents should make sure their children are safe always and secure.

[silliemillie]

Saww them on BBC Breakfast and they say they left her with a 15 year old relative, but do agree with you, why does it take 2 of them to get a drink?

[pixie373]

Whose fault do they think it is?

[Octavius]

I remember when this first came out - Egypt wasn't it? A terrible tragedy, but it seemed from the outset they were looking to blame everyone but themselves - pool staff, First Choice, Hotel Manager....

We went to Egypt with a 3 and a 5 year old, and never left them out of our site once.

[jno]

they left her with her 15-year-old sister - I imagine the latter is devastated and the parents are trying to protect her, which is what I might well do myself. Leaving young children with older siblings is fairly normal.

And if there were supposed to be lifeguards there, and there weren't, then they may well have a point.

[whiskeryron]

// parents should make sure their children are safe always and secure. //
// Whose fault do they think it is?//

When my 'little girl' was growing up ( she's in her 60th year now) everywhere she went so did we, she was never ever left on her own at all & she also made sure her two sons were always safe. Is it too much to ask that parents make sure that their little ones are safe at all times ?

WR.

[emmie]

they are to blame, you don't let a child wander off, suppose she had been abducted.

[Octavius]

jno - where's that from then, have I got a different story?

"Sarah Thompson revealed how she and her partner had left their daughter Chloe Johnson playing at the side of the resort’s shallow toddler pool with a friend for five minutes while they fetched drinks.

But Chloe wandered into a wave pool yards away and was found lying lying unconscious at the side of the pool."

[jno]

same story, Octavius, this is the version I read

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2327399/Chloe-Johnsons-parents-say-15-year-old-sister-drowned-bought-snacks.html

[daffy654]

Octavius, updated article, the one you quoted was from when it happened and there were few details available.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2327399/Chloe-Johnsons-parents-say-15-year-old-sister-drowned-bought-snacks.html

[nannybooby]

madness ,why would you not watch and look after your own child.

[ummmm]

Do you think that children never get left unattended?

[EcclesCake]

I don't think it is unreasonable for the parents to leave their five year old under the supervision of their fifteen year old daughter.

My interpretation of the article is that they want to know why if there are supposed to be two lifeguards at the pool where were they? Similarly I would imagine the hotel claims to have a Dr or other medical care available so why did it take so long for someone suitably skilled to make an appearance.

The holiday company will have a Service Level Agreement in place with the hotel and if that hasn't been adhered to then they will have to face the consequences.

I'm not sure this is really about off-setting the blame, just trying to get to the bottom of what happened to prevent a similar tragedy occurring again, at this hotel and others.

[Octavius]

Personally I would have sent the 15 year old to get the drinks.

[jno]

few parents are with their children 24/7. I certainly wasn't. Sometimes you make judgment calls about where and how to leave them. I would have thought leaving her with a 15-year-old sister was in order, and what went wrong was a tragic accident.

Whether it could in fact have been avoided if the pool was properly staffed, I don't know.

[nannybooby]

ummm ,my daughter and grand daughters NEVER are left unattended its part of what you sign up for when you become a parent.

[jno]

sure, Octavius, and suppose the 15-year-old had been run over? Then people would be saying "Why didn't the parents get the drinks..."

These are judgment calls, and they don't always go right. Bad things happen. I don't think the parents have done anything wrong. Other people may have failed in their jobs, I don't know.

[jno]

Nannybooby, the parents didn't leave the girl unattended.