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Two toddlers drowned in their next-door neighbor's swimming pool after apparently wandering out of their home Monday. No foul play was suspected, police said.
The 2-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy were being watched by their great-grandmother when they left the house sometime Monday morning.
Family members searched for the children for an hour before calling police, Fresno Police Lt. Joe Gomez said.
I don't want to point fingers...but an hour before calling 911? If my kids that age went missing (I have 2 kids a year apart), 5 minutes! I called 911 once after about 5 minutes (we found them hiding for fun in a closet so I was able to call off the dogs). I was terrified! If they aren't in the house, call 911. It might not have made a difference.
And it sounds like a gate was left open. It might not have been the owners. I had a pool and had an extra lock and then another safeguard on the iron fence and lawn men, pool men, electric meter readers all would leave it open. Made me mad!!! I even had signs up explaining how to use the locks and how to re0lock them. We had toddlers in the neighborhood and an autistic boy!
But its so sad...all around. I wish they had found them in time!
Why they would leave their kids with a great-grandma is beyond me. She was probably asleep.
I know a great grandmother who was in her 40s. And I also know many people take what child care they can get, happily. I am sure now they are rethinking it all.
At some point you gotta hold either the parents or the caretaker responsible. And really, their great-grandmother was the person watching them? Maybe she was simply too old to have her look after small kids. And look at what the last paragraph says:
Quote:
Valle told the newspaper she found the same children unattended in her backyard about six months ago and walked them home
If I had a pool, there's no way I wouldn't have it completely enclosed by a fence with a locked gate.
For precisely this reason. It's a no-brainer.
And, no - I wouldn't say "Well, the parents should have been watching them so I don't need my pool secured."
Yes, it's true that those toddlers should have had supervision. But I wouldn't rely on that. I'd rather put up a fence and gate, than know a child died because I didn't.
This makes my heart hurt so badly! But there is so much wrong with this story... so much negligence... If the children had wandered out before, why weren't deadbolts or high latches installed on the doors? The neighbor with the pool should have done more to safeguard her yard. When we installed a pool, we also installed a 6 foot privacy fence with locks on both gates, specifically so that the free-range neighborhood kids couldn't wander inside. How did anyone wait an hour before calling the police for two missing TODDLERS?! This is just so sad May those poor babies rest in peace.
I know a great grandmother who was in her 40s. And I also know many people take what child care they can get, happily. I am sure now they are rethinking it all.
]If I had a pool, there's no way I wouldn't have it completely enclosed by a fence with a locked gate.[/b]
For precisely this reason. It's a no-brainer.
And, no - I wouldn't say "Well, the parents should have been watching them so I don't need my pool secured."
Yes, it's true that those toddlers should have had supervision. But I wouldn't rely on that. I'd rather put up a fence and gate, than know a child died because I didn't.
That's what insurance companies require.
How could toddlers get out of the house, anyway? Didn't the parents have one of those kiddie gates inside the house, to keep the kids corralled in one section of the house, or away from exits? And who was "watching" (not-watching) the kids the previous time they got into the neighbor's yard? If it was great grandma, steps should have been taken to prevent that next time (kid gate, locked exits, or whatever).
I wonder if this was supposed to be a barrier to keep out kids but these kids were small enough to squeeze through.
"They entered the neighbor's yard through an open gate and climbed or squeezed through a 4-foot high wrought iron fence surrounding the pool, Gomez said."
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Maybe she was simply too old to have her look after small kids. And look at what the last paragraph says:
Did they all get knocked up when they were 12? 
