PALE&IF, The causes for parental failures can’t be sheeted home solely to one cause. Having said that there are parents who abuse the system. The issue is far more complex than you seem to imagine.

Belly
Not every person has the ability to accurately assess all risks. I could shock you by listing the seemingly innocuous situation that has turned tragic. Just one the ubiquitous sand pit can be a disaster looking for a time:
• Redbacks, Funnel webs, and other assorted bities.
• Snakes. Small browns can kill and have been caught in sand pits etc
• Then there’s wandering cats who spread disease if mum is pregnant it can be fatal.
• Legionella has been found in gardens and sand pits.
• The list goes on.
I’ll bet that few parents cover the pit up every night and or inspect it every time before allowing Jr. to play.
Accident happen to everyone else is the common myth.
Water is a trap for the unwary a child can drown in 4cm of water.
Consider for a moment if pool fences weren’t mandated and therefore no standards applied
• How many pools would be fenced? Cheaper not to.
• Those that were built how safe would they really be? Who amongst us is an expert on risk? That’s a whole new ball game. To expect a parent to be across all the potential ever growing risks is ludicrous.
Hence minimum standards are mandated. Unfortunately standards need enforcement. ….. This costs money who’s going to pay? (user pays is the fairest way).

Sadly there are instant armchair experts everywhere who ‘’know better” and treat the law as optional or that activities are only illegal if caught i.e. mums that drive the children while talking on the mobile; Dad’s speed and cut people off while their children are in the car. Both these send subliminal messages to the children on what is acceptable at best and can be fatal at worst. Terms like Nanny State etc in this context are simply nonsense.

Hi examinator

Agreed there are many factors to it. However please keep in mind pool laws were also brought out to beef up councils with the old permitt and applicatation fees fines like parking meters.

These laws give false sercurity to people.

Now dont dont me wrong I can see the sense in making 'todays 'parents fence off 'their' pools.
After having said tha the older generation semed to have managed just fine by taking their parenting seriously and taking reasonsibilty.

On the Gold Coast as it is many other areas we have more cannals than Hawi. Most of the properties back onto water. Then we could look at the farms with the dams. The law states that farms over 3 meters dont have to fense pools. I guess thats because they figure kids would probably drown in one of the many dams before they found the pool.

OR maybe its because they feel country folk take me reasonsibilty for their kids.

Or it could be they thought- Nar the country folks will never take this pool fencing rubbish. They will tell us to go jump in the lake.:)!

Need I go on.

As A non parent I resent being told I MUST fense my pool because someone cant watch their own kids down the road.

Whatever happend to tresspass.
No sorry- Mind your own kids please instead of making everybody else pay five grand pluss because some unemployed chick down the road living off welfare having kids to 8 dads cant watch her own kids.

Or better still dont have them in the first place while you and I pay for that as well

Merry Christmas

Is it ever the patents fault yes it is! can any one ever say its never true?
Is the issue full of sadness and pain? yes always.
Could it have been avoided sometimes? yes no doubt it could have.
Lets look at some posts in the thread, we are mostly talking about children 1,2, or 3 years old.
Dead children, trespass? who the children?
How did we turn this thread into a debate about Queensland following other states in fencing swimming pools?
Or the costs of doing that? or maybe its the fact we are forced to do it.
This Monday morning would you still enjoy your morning swim if the next doors little girl or boy had drowned in it on Sunday?
We pay for pedestrian crossing, why? safety rails on cliffs, why?
Because we do value life, every life, how many, and there have been a few, who posted here with concerns about fencing costs or being law care truly more about that than life?

Belly, I for one don't think anyone should have to fence their pool if their yard is fenced. I have however fenced my pool out of 'peace of mind'.

Pool fences don't stop kids from drowning as they quite often drown from either climing over them, or by an older sibling opening the gate, in fact, it could be said that they instil a 'faulse sence of security' as most adults would assume that becasue the pool is fenced it is safe.

The bottom line is 'if you CHOOSE to have kids they are YOUR RESPONSIBILLITY. END OF STORY!

Poor parenting is like a cancer to good, well mannered kids as they paick up bad habbits from these 'dead beats'.

I remember when one of my shops was robbed and I said to the police 'what is wrong with these kids today?

He said "did you ever go to school with a 'scum bag'(not his exact words) and I said yes! He then said well two of these scum bags have got together and bread another scum bag.

How true was that!

Today many parents are stressed out. Time poverty dominates them and the children just do not get their attention as they should. It is so easy to make a silly mistake when attention levels fall. It is often a recipe for disaster. This is a matter for society and it is no good just blaming parents. It is a much bigger problem.
Sybil

rechtub, yes I have known cops like that, they should not be in a police station unless in hand cuffs or with a mop and bucket in their hands.
Sybil, quite right but it is not a public problem.
Well maybe we need to educate parents more but how do we handle people who should not have kids having them?
The intent of the thread was to highlight the deaths of young children, very young children.
But I can not ignore the facts, this season sees kids given motor bikes that kill and maim them, guns that do the same, some parents should not produce children.
Each death seems to see statements like I only turned my head for a second, or we never thought it could happen to us.
yes sometimes often, its the parents fault, rarely do they take ownership of that fact.