Child missing in Portugal

A not so fluffy post! I've been watching the news reports of the 3 year old little girl kidnapped while on holiday in Portugal, and seeing/hearing the anguish of the parents is heartbreaking. I cannot, in my wildest nightmares, imagine what they are going through at the moment and my thoughts are with them. I hope that the little one is found safe and well VERY VERY soon.

However, I feel very uncomfortable with the reports of how the child (and her 2 year old twin siblings) were left alone in the holiday apartment, while the parents went for a meal. I know that the news reports say the parents checked on the children every half an hour, and that the restaurant was only yards across the street and that they were staying in a family friendly, fairly exclusive resort. Its also been reported that the family were holidaying in a group with other families and that they chose not to use the resort's creche services. Why not - was it more convenient to leave three children alone? Couldn't the group have taken turns to babysit each other's children? If the restaurant was so close couldn't they take their meals back to the apartment? I cannot fathom how an obviously intelligent (both doctors) couple could think it was safe to leave three children of that age ON THEIR OWN. I presume, given their ages, all three children could walk - what if they had woken up on their own and gotten into mischief? A much more plausible happening than the current traumatic events, which probably couldn't have been imagined.

Another thought - what if this were Wayne and Waynetta Slob, who just popped over the road to the local pub, leaving three children locked in their council flat? Would they be getting all this sympathetic, wringing hands "How could this happen?" press? Or would they be roundly condemned for their bad parenting choices and have social services knocking on their doors??

One last thought - a relative of the parents has been quoted saying that the children were born after IVF treatment, and so were more special than if they had been conceived naturally. This REALLY got my goat!! We were lucky that we didn't have any fertility issues when we had our birth daughters, and I consider them SO SPECIAL that I never left them alone in a locked house, so that I could have a meal!!

Despite all that ranting, I honestly hope and pray that the little girl is returned safely to her parents as soon as possible.