Parents! Don’t Leave Your Kids Alone

People in my hometown of Coventry were rocked last week (July 16th 2008) by the news of a twenty two month old girl killed at home by a fire, caused through a faulty television. However, sympathy for the childs mother soon turned to anger when word got out that the child had been left home alone during the incident. Police have now brought charges against the single mother, holding her responsible for the death.

A few months ago, in another part of the UK, a young mother strapped her toddler into a highchair, leaving him in the kitchen whilst she went out boozing. A neighbour heard the youngsters crying but thought nothing of it until she seen water running from the front door. The child had turned on a tap and flooded the flat. Thankfully, he was rescued unharmed but he might not have been so lucky had it not been down to the neighbours curiosity. The mother was “totally regretful” of her actions when police found her in a local pub, drunk. She is awaiting trial for charges of neglect and endangering her sons life but her legal team are trying to argue that the stress of being a single mother and a non-existant social life led her to “one moment of madness”.

Now being a single mum myself, I know all too well about the lack of a social life. I havn’t had a night out in almost a year, and a good two years before that. My youngster is four years old, and although sensible for her age, I am conscious when I have a long soak in the bath or doing a bit of gardening and she is left to her own devices. So how the two mothers listed above felt justified leaving toddlers alone I just cannot accept. However, it has come to light that more and more parents are leaving their children alone for the odd thirty minutes whilst they run errands or even longer as they embark on their missed social lives. As well as endangering the youngsters, do they not think that something could happen to them, ie, getting run over or being attacked or are they just so selfish they do not care. Being a parent is no easy job, single or as a couple but it’s one that must be taken seriously so to any parent considering a “quick break”, ask yourself if it’s worth more than your childs life, because if it is then you shouldn’t be a parent in the first place.