Protecting children - Parenting is a 24/7 obligation

BEING a parent is as much a great responsibility as it is a life-enhancing privilege. Today we report on two cases where those principles may not have been observed as completely as everyone would wish, though in one case the family involved has rejected suggestions that the parents were drunk and incapable of minding their three children while on holiday in Portugal.

In another case, heard before a Waterford court yesterday, a mother, who left her three-year-old child asleep and alone in a hostel while she went on a night on the town, was told that “someone could have walked up the four flights of stairs and walked away with the child and disappeared into the night”.

That these cases are not isolated instances is underlined by the fact that they come so very soon after the first anniversary of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Praia da Luz — days short of her fourth birthday.

The huge majority of parents behave responsibly towards children in their care and that care is not diminished while they are together on holiday. A minority, either uncaring or worn beyond endurance, will use a holiday to let off steam — that’s what holidays are for — to an extent that their children may not get the care they usually do. This situation can only lead to regret and possibly danger for the children. Holidays are meant to be about good times spent with loved ones, not occasions to be regretted for a lifetime. So, take the pictures, get the tan, have the fun and mind the children 24/7.