at wondering why parents ...

Thankfully I have never been in that situation, DC never gave cause for concern.
If the child was allowed to ski on his own he had probably had proper instruction but at seven years old does not have enough experience to deal with every problem that may arise on a mountain.
Skiing and snow-boarding are dangerous sports and there will always be accidents, the parents have my sympathy on the loss of their child.

I so agree Grannytwice.

We lost our DD at age 5 - in a forest. Luckily she made her way back to the caravan - at the same moment that I was about to call the police. Heart-stopping.

Yes, you're being unreasonable, granjura (you did ask!) because you are being too judgmental without full information. It's an easy mistake to make, as is losing sight of a child when you are dealing with another. The family has my full sympathy too for having to deal with such a disaster and the lifelong nightmare that will follow.

Every time I hear about a child either being injured or even killed in a riding accident I think, There but for the grace etc., etc.,

Our three children all had ponies and we took all possible precautions but there were obviously lots of falls.

Happy days and thankfully uneventful ones.

Poor parents

I really can't believe that anyone who has brought up children or been involved in the care of children has not had an experience that could have potentially had terrible consequences. It's a real 'there but for the grace of God' and there will be absolutely nothing that anyone can say about this mother that she won't be thinking herself.

Granjura

Your OP infers the parents allowed their son to ski in isolation with their permission and how they must be regretting that decision and blaming themselves.

My understanding is different.

Didn't his sister fall over, loosing a ski and in that split second the mother decided to look after her. The little boy carried on skiing , no doubt either unaware of what was happening with the others or 'thought' he knew what he was doing as children so often do !

You ask 'what on earth were thinking about'. I think we can all guess what they are thinking about but this is a tragic accident and I for one can see how quickly this all panned out.

If more information surfaces to give rise to the parents being negligent then I will retract my post but at the moment I just feel sorry for a family who are suffering such a tragic loss of their child in such a manner.

I remember losing sight of my autistic grandson twice when we were in sole charge of him in Bournemouth. Once he just decided to run off when someone asked us directions and he was found building sandcastles a few hundred yards away. The other time he ran behind the beach huts and we eventually found him at the top of a slide in the playground at Alum Chine.

MiL is convinced that losing SiL again on the seafront, caused her miscarriage a few days later.

I feel desperately sorry for the parents and sister of this little one. I hope they can come to terms with it eventually.

There seems to be varying reports on what happened from him allowed to ski alone to his mother stopping to help his sister who'd fallen....
Either way, it's a heartbreaking thing to happen and my heart goes out to them.

We lost our kids on more than one occasion and we weren't careless parents. We just took our eye off the game momentarily. The worst time was when our 4 year old went missing in a Railway Station in Galway.

It was heart stopping. I can remember my husband running down the road in a state of complete panic.

Thank heavens my son had the sense to approach a coach driver. (I'd told him to find a person in uniform if he ever got lost.)

We also lost two of our sons on a mountain in Ireland (what was it about Ireland?) It was a truly dreadful experience.

My heart goes out to the parents in the OP.

I don't think he was 'allowed' to go off and ski on his own routinely - just a momentary lack of judgement, like the McCanns, for which they'll forever regret.

Yes granjura, I do feel you're being unreasonable. The parents will live with this tragedy for ever. I have nothing but sympathy for them.

This is a terrible tragedy and the parents must be absolutely distraught. I have nothing but sympathy for them.

It does indeed seem strange that this little boy was wandering about on his own - I had sort of assumed that when skiing people are in a gang - although I have never been. How desperately sad it is - his poor parents must be beside themselves.

I just keep thinking of him wandering about looking for his mum and dad. He must have been so frightened.