Toddler drifted out to sea on a Unicorn floaty ..

momb I wish I hadn’t read that.
?

We were always given strict rules when we were in the sea; only when the tide was coming in, keep in line with a land mark on the beach etc. It’s surprising how far you can be pulled without even realising.

When we lived in Aden during the fifties we swam inside shark nets stretched across the bay. When the sea was choppy we couldn't wait to get in there with our lilos, taking bets on who could stay on the longest.

My father used to joke that the nets weren't just to keep the sharks out but the kids in!

We live near the beach and I don’t find a day there at all fun if I have the youngest DGC with me. especially the two who are 3 and 1. The contestant monitoring of them near the water and rocks and the groins plus weevil fish risks, jelly fish etc means that it’s hyper alertness needed and exhausting! You can’t take your eyes off toddlers for even a Nono second and I can’t imagine allowing one on an inflatable at the beach!

That is very sad, momb.
However, as they were so young, my suspicions are immediately aroused.

However, twice we've seen children who were left in cars on hot days and tried to find the parent to alert them. Each time the parent was quite annoyed at being fetched and said the child was perfectly all right. One child was particularly distressed, his father was a professional man who had come for a meeting where I worked.

Sorry Urmstongran

2 teenage girls here drifted out on paddleboards near shipping area. They had life jackets which they weren't wearing and no phones. When rescued they wondered what all the fuss was about!

Yes, awful situation. Thank god she was saved.

Plenty would have cared a lot less if she'd been an immigrant child on an inflatable needing rescue though.

OFGS GagaJo! That's a dreadful thing to say, though not completely surprising, and quite unsubstantiated.

always wait for the tide to be coming in .surely there was a life guard on the beach? parents should watch their children at all times.

Just does not bear thinking about? But one has to wonder about the parents, really. Surely there has been so many reported accidents in the past all over the Press and TV news. What were they thinking about ?

Well quite! Its constantly on the news and in the media, (much more than it was years ago,) about the dangers on the beach, notices are put up, about this,quicksands,being cut off by the tide, going too near the edge of the cliffs and other dangers,but certain people just won't take any notice! Crazy!,

This set my anxiety off a bit. I was an over cautious mum and had to work on not being so helicopter.

The thing is though, I know the truth.

Everyone has taken their eye off the ball.

Everyone has let go of a little hand for a second or looked away or been distracted.

Often bad things happen through bad luck not bad parenting.

So glad this little one was OK.

Amazing how calm she was though? Can't think how and why she was so calm, right up to the end? This probably saved her.

The TV footage of the little girl flung 100 ft into the air after getting tangled up in a kite (Vietnam, I think) is terrifying to watch.

Nothing short of a miracle that she escaped injury and was safely caught.

With so many warnings about the dangers of inflatables on the beach this incident has little to do with bad luck and more to do with bad or no judgement.

Parents who allow their children to take inflatables into the sea are putting them at risk.

Jabberwok

OFGS GagaJo! That's a dreadful thing to say, though not completely surprising, and quite unsubstantiated.

Really? Funny. The immigrant thread would on here would prove otherwise. The same old names protesting about migrants floating in on a daily basis.

But this isn't the immigrant thread GagaJo so why bring it up here?

The same story reported an elderly gentleman was also recently rescued after floating out to sea on a lilo.

Wonder where his parents were?

Because it's utter hypocrisy. One child has an army sent out to save it. Others should be 'towed back' where they came from.

They are all terrified children. Why are some worth saving and others not?

Why does almost every thread start with civilized conversation and almost always disintegrate into bad tempered argument. Oh well, another conversation not worth joining in!

Whose saying some children are worth saving and others aren't? You seem to be trying very hard to bring immigration into a discussion that has nothing to do with it.

I'm not bad tempered. And I'm not sure why making links between vulnerable children should be regarded as disintegration.

It's a logical link. The topic is children in danger in the sea.

Gagojo I understand.

Our local shop did a collection for refugees and some locals were irate and demanding that they collect for British charities like the homeless.

I pointed out that they could start their own collection for a charity that matters to them and people would be able to contribute to both...

One woman told me that she already does do charity work thank you very much, that she flies abroad often to help homeless dogs, and that both her rescue dogs came from abroad.

I couldn't do anything but laugh.

She will never see the irony

Yes! Although I'm also a sucker for an animal charity. Those big brown doggy eyes.

The little boy refugee in a life jacket in the media last week made me cry. He looks like an older version of my grandson. There but for the grace of God... I just wanted to hug him.