The Bear

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Reason:Post: Banning of Claire - British parenting, etc
Forum: Talk About Anything
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Posted by: London Orbital
Original Content:

chikrodah

Agreed. Somebody seems to want to continue pushing "Claire"'s agenda here.

Many parents of 15 year old girls could, if they thought about it, envisage occasions where the choice made by Ms McKeown might seem to be the best choice in the circumstances for the whole family, regardless of whether they themselves would make that choice.

Express Newspapers have already had to pay libel damages to the McCanns. The forum doesn't need this issue re-opening.

Cleopatra

Actually, I would never leave my child in a foreign country with somebody we had just met (if that really is the case). The mother is not evil but on this occasion she was negligent. I know of parents that let their children celebrate their exam success by allowing them to go on holiday, but this is after they have done their A levels and this is travelling with people the parents know and trust, with strict guidelines to stay together at all times.

The 15 year old may have looked and acted older than her age but she is of school age. Her daughter should have been with her at all times.

__________________
"Then they pull down their filthy trousers, squat over a massive, subsidised ditch and evacuate their corrupt, socialist bowels all over a photograph of Shakespeare."

Cleopatra

Incidentally I feel the same about the McCanns. They and their friends should never have left the children on their own. You could not see the McCanns apartment from where they were sitting, that was a lie. If a child had fallen out of bed and bumped their head, how would an adult know this? How would they know whether the child was concussed? What if there had been a fire? What if a child did go wandering? What about the McCanns friends who "boasted" that they checked on their kids every 20 minutes to half hour as their children were sick? (If you're children are sick you nurse them, children can choke on vomit as can adults). As it so happens, the worst thing that could have happened did happen, they have my deepest sympathy but I do not understand why they did it.

If I had done that I would be locked up in a prison somewhere as I am a single parent, my other child would be taken away from me and I would be known as Britains worst mother. I have no doubt about that. As it happens I would never have left my children to go out socialising. Family holidays are just that, family holidays.

The McCanns did not use the babysitting service that was on offer using the excuse that they were doing exactly what the babysitting service would do anyway. That was another lie, that particular warner bros only offered the paid creche facility and not the room checking facility. The warner bros accomodations that do offer the room checking facility are not only permanantly walking around checking the rooms but the also have baby monitors to hear exactly what is going on in the rooms at all times.

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"Then they pull down their filthy trousers, squat over a massive, subsidised ditch and evacuate their corrupt, socialist bowels all over a photograph of Shakespeare."

chikrodah

Cleo, I didn't suggest for one moment that other parents would act the way either the McCanns or Ms McKeown did. I merely pointed out that parents with daughters the same age as Ms McKeown's might be able to remember the tantrums and arguments so typical of children that age.

I do my best not to judge others; the McCann and McKeown situations are still horrible for those parents and children involved. Nobody seems to remember that there are 6 grieving siblings in the McKeown case, for example.

In my own experience (single parent, 4 teenagers), I have been faced with a similar situation to Ms McKeown. I gritted my teeth and kept my daughter with us for the holiday concerned. She had promised that if I did that, she'd ruin the holiday for all of us. I ignored her tantrums, so she did what she'd promised. It was the last holiday we'll ever spend together as a family and she made sure we'd remember it for all the wrong reasons. Before anybody points out the obvious, yes, I do still have my daughter alive and well, but the cost to the family is still being felt.

I would never have left my children when they were as young as Madeleine McCann. It's one of the reasons I'm now a single parent; I put my offspring before a social life. The ex chose to expand their horizons instead.

We don't know what caused Ms McKeown to act as she did. She doesn't appear to have the resources or the friends that the McCanns could call on. She and her remaining children deserve our compassion, if not our understanding. We can offer that by refusing to tolerate attempts to destroy her children's lives further.

Aardvark

As with Tony Bennett trying to prosecute the McCanns, Claire had no real interest in this case when she advocated people report Mrs McKeown to her local police. The McCanns are in Leicester, TB in Harlow. Claire is in Barnes; the McKeown home is Devon.

The local authorities are fully aware of the case and will take whatever action they deem appropriate without publicity seekers trying to muscle in. The press are partially to blame as they encourage people to become vicarious participants in the sufferings of others rather than factually reporting matters. Some people, deluded if you ask me, believe that they are now part of the event and are knowledgeable on the subject reported (much like soap watchers talk about the events as if they are real and if they meet the actors call them by their character rather than cast names).

If I were a social worker in Devon I would no doubt have seen the case in the national press (they are literate and numerate) and I would have probably made my own decision to interview the people on their return. I am sure Devon police will do the same as a safety check if nothing else. It is their business as professionals, aware of the basic story, to decide what to do and they don't need the interference of people who are only interested in the stories that make the news.

There have been a lot of teenagers killed in the last 2 or 3 years in gang killings and muggings. Did Claire contact the Met, or Manchester or Liverpool police to pursue the families who had let their youngsters out unsupervised at night? I would hope and expect not.

There are lots of parents who are struggling with circumstances that Claire might be surprised by - I was widowed and made homeless twice in the space of 18 months. It wasn't easy. I'll admit I let my 15-year old daughter take the train from Swindon to Torquay to stay with friends; she travelled alone and changed at Exeter. I know there were adults in the house on arrival, but one, her mate's step dad, was a man I had never met. Beyond that I don't know what she did; sometimes you have to trust teenagers as they grow up.

Claire would condemn me as a bad father, of that I am certain. Without her mother my daughter went off the rails - boys, drugs (now clean) and flunked exams. It was a nightmare. When I went to work before my daughter got up I didn't know if she would go to school or not until I got the letters from the authorities. I was having enough grief as it was. I am so glad that Claire didn't find out about me as she would have had the whole nation calling the police and social services.

Claire then has the nerve to have a go at my daughter, and tens of thousands of others, for having a child out of wedlock. It is not UKIP policy to condemn the electorate for their foibles, but she behaves as if it is and that we all share her morals. Claire would have me write my daughter out of my will for not sharing Claire's moral stance.

People are people. It is not up to interfering busy bodies to concern themselves with the lawful, although immoral, actions of others.

If Devon police don't investigate Mrs McKeown it will only be because they lack resources after somebody has dumped a load of old documents on their desks and demanded they prosecute a load of dead MPs for treason.

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When in Woking do as the Wokes do.

"I do not wish to form my opinions by thoughtlessly quoting others; I wish others to support their opinions by sensibly quoting me." Paul Wesson (Aardvark) 13th April 2008