Parents... what the...???
 

Hmm...it's not unusual for children to drown near their homes. It's tragic and could be prevented with some child-proof barriers, swimming lessons, and instructions from parents to not go anywhere near water without supervision, but sometimes these kids still slip through the cracks. (It's like toddlers having accidents with cribs or strangling themselves...it's not that the parents are neglecting them.) Children usually cannot be watched 24 hours a day everyday but preventative steps can be taken to reduce the risks.

This particular case is a little strange, though, so I can see how homicide might be a possibility. For one thing, I would think most kids in Florida would be able to swim given our proximity to the ocean and many houses in the state having pools. Plus, it's strange that all three kids drowned. Maybe one was struggling and the others tried to help?

Whatever the case, can you imagine the devastation the parents and family must be going through? I would think the last thing they need is to have people telling them they're bad parents. For the rest of their lives they can only say, "What if?" and warn others to protect their own kids. We can't condemn the parents yet.

That story is an absolute tragedy. Water safety is very important and could have saved these lives.

at first i thought it was kinda weird for all three of them to die. then i remembered that cornfields are big in ohio. and one year this guy was in a corn silo when it caught on fire. his son ran into rescue him and collapsed from smoke inhalation. then the grandfather ran in to help too. the grandfather ALSO collapsed from smoke inhalation and all three of them died.

so...i guess it COULD be an accident. but dang. i'd still suspect some kind of foul play. ehhhhhhh...

marissa

It's Florida for heaven sake. Most kids I know are VERY in the know on water safety. Of course perhaps a 4 year old may not know, a 7 yr old SHOULD and most definetly by 9 it should be standard knowledge, but I guess this isn't obvious to every one. Even the kids next door to us would never come over to swim while we're away without a parent with them or watching them with a phone in their hand.

Ft. Pierce like many towns, has a good side and a really bad side...I could see it being a shady situation. God bless their mom and their neighbors.Such a shame...

terribly sad
 

my thoughts and prayers are with the family.

It's impossible to judge the parents in this situation without more details than the article provides.

In a perfect world, parents always know where their children are. In the real one, phones ring, people come to the door or some other thing distracts for just long enough for a tragedy to happen. Like running into the street and being hit by a car -- or like this one.

It doesn't take long, and until you've raised children, it's nearly impossible to imagine how hard it is to keep track of them every second of every day -- no matter how hard you try. It's also remarkably easy to become overconfident as your children grow older and you expect them to take care of their younger siblings. (Granted, a nine year old shouldn't be given mortal responsibility)

In our area recently two young brothers drowned in the middle of a pool party! There were twenty or thirty friends and adults around who simply lost track of the two for a couple of minutes. Our daughter, who is a trained lifeguard, and our son-in-law tried to help another lifeguard who happened by and pulled the kids out of the water -- but their CPR attempts were futile. (To clarify, this was a private pool and no lifeguard was on duty -- our duaghter lives close by and the other guard heard the calls for help as he was passing by) We've probably all heard (at least I have many times) of people drowing in public pools with qualified, professional lifeguards on duty.

Bad things can happen very quickly.

The quoted article doesn't say whether the three boys were good swimmers or not. The two in our local case were allegedly were.

I'm not necessarily excusing the parent(s) in this case. If they are charged, it is probably because he police know something we don't. The boys may have been told never to go near the pool by timeselves and simply disobeyed.

Remember, though, some parents are negligent, some are dumber than a brick, some don't care -- and some are good parents who simply lose control of a situation for just long enough to have tragic results. If we were all perfect there would never be a traffic accident or any other kind of traumatic situation.

No matter what the case, the children and the parents need our prayers.

From the Miami Herald..."My babies were good boys"

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/3613971.htm

:(