When a holiday goes wrong - keeping your children safe
May 2007 - The horrific abduction of Madeleine McCann in Portugal recently, has placed children's holiday safety in the spotlight. It has turned commonly accepted parenting practices on its head and cast doubts amongst many parents about 'what is safe?'.
As a mum of two little ones, this terrible event struck a cord with me, particularly as we have stayed at Mark Warner resorts and have used their listening service. This facility allows you to leave your child asleep in the room, go off to enjoy a meal, whilst staff patrol the corridors every 15- 20 minutes and listen out for crying babies. Never once did I consider that my child would be unsafe. Mark Warner resorts - and many others who offer a similar service - have always been considered very safe and secure.
We can't tell parents what the right or the wrong approach is. But we can provide some tips on how to ensure holidays are as safe as possible, while still being able to relax. Holidaywithbaby's aim is to provide parents with information so that they can travel with confidence. If you have any tips or experiences on how to make holidays safe, please share them with us so that other parents like you can benefit.
From everyone at holidaywithbaby our most heartfelt thoughts go out to the McCann family.
Awla Sanghrajka, founder
What type of holiday is safest?
No holiday is risk free - but then again, neither is staying at home. You need to weigh up the potential for risk and the experience you're likely to have. We've listed the safest options:
- Staying with friends and family: assuming they have a child-proofed house, this is probably the safest option and is much like being at home. The downside is that unless your friends live somewhere you really want to visit, it won't feel like much of a holiday. If you all want to go out at night, you will still have to arrange a babysitter, unless you have a long-suffering grandparent on hand.
- Staying at a child-friendly gite, villa or self catering apartment: As long as the property you select is genuinely child friendly (has an enclosed swimming pool, stairgates, baby monitors and plug sockets etc.), this is a great option as you can still get some adult time alone with your partner - particularly in the evenings - without leaving the property. Ask in advance whether baby sitting can be arranged for the evenings you want to go out.
- Staying at a child-centered resort with a range of child care options: It may not seem like it given recent events, but holidays like Mark Warner and other family friendly resorts provide a safe option. Most offer either babysitting, night creche or baby listening facilities. Many parents find the baby listening service perfectly adequate - but others might take more comfort now knowing that a babysitter is present. Baby listening is usually free while babysitting is not, so you will need to factor that into your planning.
Another option is to let your child have a long siesta during the day so that they can stay up later at night and enjoy the evening with you. Obviously, this means less couple time, but will allow you to still get away to a sunny destination with time to yourself during the day as most have kids clubs to keep children entertained.
