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I admit, this one gave me pause for thought too, then I thought, okay, 16 y.o. has baby girl, who in turn has a baby girl at 16, so the original mother is a grandma at 32, her granddaughter has a kid at 16, making the original mother a 48 y.o. great grandma, which as stated, is in her 40s.
Unlikely I hope, but possible.
I admit, this one gave me pause for thought too, then I thought, okay, 16 y.o. has baby girl, who in turn has a baby girl at 16, so the original mother is a grandma at 32, her granddaughter has a kid at 16, making the original mother a 48 y.o. great grandma, which as stated, is in her 40s.
Unlikely I hope, but possible.
What does that mean .. that younger mothers arent as caring or loving..
I don't think anyone is to blame because, I don't care what anybody says, it is IMPOSSIBLE to watch any child 24 hours a day, I am a parent and I am telling you that it is flat-out impossible.
The standard is "was there REASONABLE efforts made at keeping the children in?" Yes the garage door was open and probably shouldn't have been, but what about the main front door? If it was locked and the children overcame those locks, I think you chalk it up to a child being stubborn and bull-headed frankly. One poster mentioned how her child at that age could push a chair up to the door and such and jimmy open doors to get out even with a garage door closed. Gee, what more can one do? At some point, isn't the child to blame because they keep being so stubborn and determined to getting out as opposed to obeying their parents and not trying so hard to overcome their considerable barriers and efforts at keeping you safe? They say "stay," well--STAY. They told you to, now do it. Stop being so disobedient.
To me this point is made with how the children squeezed through a 4 foot fence that was around the pool. What more could the homeowner have done? Should they have to build a 35 feet high fence? Should they erect a "moat" around their "castle" and build stone fencing 100 feet high around everything? Yes I agree they have some degree of responsibility in terms of the "attractive nuisance" aspect, but to me the 4 ft fence was plenty of effort on their part.
Either the children are at "fault" as I see it, or it's an accident.
Nah, there's a lot more simple, reasonable precautions that could have been taken. Not even over-the-top, or extreme. Such as:
1. WAKE THE DAMN CAREGIVER! Wth?! Some mornings I will leave my young teen at home with my sleeping preschooler while I take the children in the middle to school. BUT I wake her up every single time! Either she can get up and eat breakfast or work on homework, or, if she doesn't need to be up yet, she can get in bed with the 4 year old.
2. Door sensors. We have 2 "escape artists" and we have sensors on every door that chime when they are opened and when they are shut. I can't imagine not having them anymore. Its a really easy way to help keep tabs on them.
3. Garage door should be shut, of course. But we've accidently left ours open before, and we've had it "bounce back" after we thought we'd closed it. So we replaced it with one that's connected to an app we can look at to double check that our garage door is shut.
This is exactly why I don't have a pool but my next door neighbor does and guess what she leaves the gate unlatched and no cover on the pool and the ladder is down too . I just see the new neighbors kids getting in their and they are preschoolers aka toddlers really and their mother does not watch them as well as she should as I have found them in my yard picking flowers .Then when you walk them home and the mother is still in a night gown at noon time , one does wonder what is going on ? I just fear this will happen in my neighborhood . I hope not but I do worry about it .
When I put in my pool about ten years ago, local ordinance required that we change out the gate to our backyard so that the pool was not visible from the street ( privacy screening of heavy metal mesh) and that the gate be spring loaded and self latching so that no one could accidentally leave the gate open.
We were also required to put alarms on the patio doors, even though we didn't have small children.
We average two small kids drowning in backyard pools here each year by my memory, but usually in their own yards or when they were at a pool party or at a relatives / friends house and no one was watching. I can't recall a case like this one where they got out and got into a neighbors yard.
This is a TERRIBLE tragedy, but I take issue with those who say the great-grandparent is at fault because imo, the fault is with the parents -- even though I feel very, very sorry for them, regardless.
How many stories have you read where young children have left the home in the middle of the night? There was a story just this past week about a two-year-old who was found "joy riding" around his neighborhood in his pedal car at about 1:30 a.m.! The point is that parents should do whatever is necessary to make sure that their children cannot leave their home when the doors are locked. And, yes, I know that many children are "escape artists", but to repeat, that is why parents should do whatever is necessary to make sure that their children cannot leave their home when the doors are locked. However, blame is pointless as no amount of finger-pointing will bring those children back to life. The only good that might come out of this is to make other parents more aware and careful.
But, to emphasize, I do feel extremely sorry for the parents and everyone involved.
Last edited by katharsis; 09-22-2016 at 09:19 AM..
I disagree with blaming the great grandmother. The parents were ultimately in charge of making the decisions for their children. The children had gotten out before. The house was obviously not secure and anyone trying to watch 2 toddlers in a house that didn't have the security necessary to keep them in the house could have failed to keep them safe. The parents had the responsibility.
We have a son with Down syndrome, now an adult, and we had locks on the doors and windows, alarms, etc. as I thought we would never keep him alive. He had the energy and will of 10 children all at once. You do what you have to do and certainly should learn once a child or children escape their home/caretakers.
I disagree with blaming the great grandmother. The parents were ultimately in charge of making the decisions for their children. The children had gotten out before. The house was obviously not secure and anyone trying to watch 2 toddlers in a house that didn't have the security necessary to keep them in the house could have failed to keep them safe. The parents had the responsibility.
We have a son with Down syndrome, now an adult, and we had locks on the doors and windows, alarms, etc. as I thought we would never keep him alive. He had the energy and will of 10 children all at once. You do what you have to do and certainly should learn once a child or children escape their home/caretakers.
Why is assigning blame important?
Will criminal charges be filed? Lawsuits? Otherwise, it's a useless exercise in guilt.
I am curious as to know how this is physically/biologically possible.
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Did they all get knocked up when they were 12? 
