The few times we've been before the shallow side of the kiddie pool has been mostly populated by other toddlers -- makes sense, it's only 18 inches / 2 ft deep or so. This has been great for us, and has done wonders for The Boy's confidence in the water -- he was happy to go and do his thing and go down the little slide with us catching him at the bottom. And since all the parents are parents of toddlers, there are lots of eyes for watching and people who are considerate of little kids.
But today the pool was very crowded, and there were a bunch of 8-12 year olds who were running rampant through the place, and so there was lots of splashing and we had to keep The Boy close to avoid him getting run over.
And I feel like a terrible curmudgeon for saying this but ... I kind of feel like those kids' parents really should talk to them about being a little more considerate of the smaller kids in the pool. Of course I'm a parent of a small child, but I'd like to think that were The Boy 13 years old and having fun at the pool, I'd be inclined to let him know if his behaviour was negatively impacting someone else's experience.
On the other hand, as The Man noted, and I agree, it's hard for us to complain about being splashed when we're at a pool. I mean honestly.
Perhaps I'd feel differently if we hadn't spent the last year trying to rid our son of a fear of water, since he gets freaked out by being splashed in the face, and this trip to the pool really didn't help our case.
Sigh. Anyway. Am I out of order, or am I right in my "Kids were never badly behaved like this when I was a child!" irritation?
2 comments:
If I may...
... as you know I spend my week with up to 200 students aged from 13 - 17. Most of them simply don't realise that their own enthusiasm and zeal is not always positively received by others. This of course was absolutely the case when we were the same age.
You could let them know that they may be making the little kids in the pool uncomfortable but I doubt it would be received well (or lead to the desired result). However, should the pool become unsafe by their actions (dive bombing too close to the little kids, for example) you bet I would march up to the life guard with the obvious suggestion those kids tone things down.
I think the big kids should probably stay out of the little kids' space. But I don't think things were any better when we were kids -- we just didn't notice, because we weren't the parents of little kids back then. I have also had a water-phobic kid, though not for several years now, so I'm familiar with both the worry about the possible consequences of any less-than-ideal water experience and the blank disbelief you get when you tell someone your child is afraid :P (because it's obviously all your fault).
The last time we went to the pool, I was told off by a grouchy old lady for letting SP swim in the lane marked "SLOW" -- not because SP had splashed her but because SP was kicking and might splash her. (There are some very nice little old ladies at our local JCC, but there are also some really cranky ones. This one wasn't even swimming, just sort of sitting there in the shallow end not doing anything, in a manner that prevented anyone else from using that lane at all.) I had selected the slow lane for us to swim in because SP is just learning and is therefore extremely slow, and also because the "MEDIUM" lane was full of older kids practising various ways of getting into the water, with much splashing and swimming back and forth and so on, and SP is still a bit skittish about water in the face -- and the "FAST" lane of course was full of people swimming fast, and people swimming fast understandably do not want a six-year-old beginner swimming with a pool noodle in their lane.
Anyway, if there's an area for little kids and big kids are horsing around in there, I think I'd speak to the lifeguard, who can then issue a general request that they cool it or go somewhere else, without giving offence and with some expectation of being listened to.
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