curiousity
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- Sep 24, 2007
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The child listening service is fairly common in Europe, and you can find it in other parts of the world including India, Africa and even the US. The service is often provided in small, upscale inns. Sometimes, the phone is left off the hook and the front desk receptionist (who normally doesn't have much to do in the evenings) listens to the open line for any noise. The concept is the same as a baby monitor. At other inns, a baby monitor is provided.
I can see where it wouldn't be an option at the Portugal resort because of the size of the resort with its separate buildings. In the inns I have stayed with the service, it is much like staying in your home and eating downstairs in the dining room while the child sleeps upstairs. The service is intended for babies and young children who would be asleep by the adult dinner time.
I have never used this service but lots of people do. I understand that most American parents would be too paranoid to use it (I am in this category). However, if the McCanns live in a world where a child listening service is normal, then it is not much of a stretch to think that it's acceptable to leave the sleeping children if the adults periodically check on them.
I do realize that the McCanns provided the alleged abductor with an opportunity to take the child by leaving the children alone. I agree with Calikid that many posters here can't seem to get beyond the leaving the kids alone. If I let my child ride his bike down the street, and someone drives by and snatches him, I have provided the opportunity for him to be abducted. However, I am not criminally liable for letting him ride a bike even though it led to his abduction. There is no intent on my part.
Unless the McCanns purposefully left the children alone so Madeleine could be taken as part of a planned abduction, their leaving the children alone is more of a red herring. You can argue that they have poor parenting skills but poor parenting skills alone don't make them liable for her disappearance.
I can see where it wouldn't be an option at the Portugal resort because of the size of the resort with its separate buildings. In the inns I have stayed with the service, it is much like staying in your home and eating downstairs in the dining room while the child sleeps upstairs. The service is intended for babies and young children who would be asleep by the adult dinner time.
I have never used this service but lots of people do. I understand that most American parents would be too paranoid to use it (I am in this category). However, if the McCanns live in a world where a child listening service is normal, then it is not much of a stretch to think that it's acceptable to leave the sleeping children if the adults periodically check on them.
I do realize that the McCanns provided the alleged abductor with an opportunity to take the child by leaving the children alone. I agree with Calikid that many posters here can't seem to get beyond the leaving the kids alone. If I let my child ride his bike down the street, and someone drives by and snatches him, I have provided the opportunity for him to be abducted. However, I am not criminally liable for letting him ride a bike even though it led to his abduction. There is no intent on my part.
Unless the McCanns purposefully left the children alone so Madeleine could be taken as part of a planned abduction, their leaving the children alone is more of a red herring. You can argue that they have poor parenting skills but poor parenting skills alone don't make them liable for her disappearance.