Bloody hair washing time at the pool

[paisleyII]

every week although been getting progressively worse each week after dd's swimming lesson the ten showers are dominated by the same mothers all clutching their fucking bottles of shampoo instructing their one or more young offspring the art of hair washing whilst the rest of us stand there with kids getting cold waiting to rinse the chlorine off. i have given up and to save getting seriously pissed off will now just come straight home and run a bath and wash dd's hair which is a pain as her lesson finishes late so wouldn't normally do this after swimming. it used to only be a few mothers clutching the old bottle of shampoo but now there is a gang of them who oddly enough EVERY week get to the ten showers first and hog them for ages - i bet they are the same mums who get the best parking spaces when doing the school run every day and hog the sun loungers by the pool getting there super early.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

That's what I do, Paisley, we don't live far. It's such a palaver and there is never enough space in the changing rooms. Some people are just completely unaware of others and if they were, they woudn't give them a thought anyway.

[scurryfunge]

Get to the showers first or go and stand really close to them and stare


and fart.

[paisleyII]

scurry - i like the fart idea. i don't know how these other mothers do it, i have tried a few times to leave the viewing area (not that close) a bit area but it doesn't make any difference, i can't 'claim' a shower - these kids who get the showers seem to be loud and pushy, like their mums, the mums have overbearing personalities i have also noticed, very alpha female types, built like brick shit houses alot of them :)

[chelstonmum]

Some women are just plain rude! (but I have had a good giggle at your description of them, I haven't heard that phrase in years!).

[Popbiscuit]

I have been known to cry after swimming lessons. Change rooms always too small and crowded and my two boys always save their extra naughty behaviour for scenarios just like this. Should be limited to a quick rinse-off to warm up and de-chlorinate and that's it. I don't understand these people who think that post-swimming lessons is the time to perform all your daily ablutions.

[paisleyII]

pop - blimey, you have cried, i have felt close i guess, did you cry infront of the showers or when you got home? i feel i am too polite as i stand there queuing patiently waiting my turn but NO MORE! the time for mr nice guy is over. i wouldn't take on any of these women though, you can tell that they wouldn't take too kindly to any form of criticism although once i get going i have got a right gob on me and would take on anyone but i don't want to be confrontational, i am at the bloody swimming baths fgs with my dd. rant over, better go and wash dd's hair.......

[hugeleyoutnumbered]

you obviously have lessons at the same place as us, they are a nightmare, we just get changed now, and then shower at home

[paisleyII]

we live in essex.......

[hugeleyoutnumbered]

then its a national thing, we are in solihull

[SmethwickBelle]

YANBU I just towel them off as best I can, get them home as quick as poss and then they have a bubble bath and proper moisturise or whatever at the other end, I couldn't control them both and flip the top of a bottle and piss about in the showers.

Shower hogs irritate me normally, at an old Victorian style pool I used to frequent there were unisex showers at the end of the pool and it was old men who were the worst offenders - or the "vigourous soapers" as I called them. They would have a flannel and soap, scrub up for a good fifteen minutes apiece, and give their nethers such a good lathering under their trunks it was bordering on the obscene.

[Blatherskite]

I don't even bother trying to get DS in the showers anymore. I just bring him home and give him a good wash at bathtime. We have the shampoo clutching Mums too and I CBA with the queue when 4yo DS is freezing and 18 month old DD is wriggling to be put down so she can get herself soaked.

[Popbiscuit]

It must be a global phenomenon as we live in Canada and the "shampoo mothers" are rampant here. I've never actually cried IN the change room but definitely silently in the car on the way home. Last week while I was trying to negotiate the shower situation for DD, one of my sons had a meltdown because he lost a hot-wheel on top of a bank of lockers (don't ask) while my other son managed to get completely soaked because he opened the curtain of one of the showers (that someone else was using)

[ChristinaEliopolis]

Same shower-hogging mothers here too. They swoop in on their child as it emerges from the pool, bundle them up in a fluffy towel and elbow their way into the showers, using their biggest voices - 'Jamesie, Jamesie, this shower is free!'

I never play the game - mine are roughly towelled off in a changing room, dressed as fast as possible (using the possibility of crisps as a bribe) and whisked off back to the car. Bath is always after dinner, so they wouldn't even think of asking for a shower.

My personal bugbear is the hogging of the individual changing rooms - the same shower-obsessed mothers leave their childs things out ready for the post-shower dressing. So my soggy kids and I have to traipse round to find an empty one. One day, I will snap and start throwing towels/bags/uniform and shoes into the pool.........

[Gastonladybird]

Maybe letting popbiscuits son lose round the showers might deter them- I am thinking of a deterrent effect if you dropped a hot wheel in there for him to hunt for ( I am intrigued at how they got on top of the locker)

[TartyMcFarty]

Oh dear, I'm a shampoo mum ... we haven't got a shower plumbed in yet To be fair though, it's a small class so there are enough showers. We're usually last in.

[Gastonladybird]

Dd bit young yet for swimming lessons- does it count that I already know from nursery who the shampoo mums will be (now backed up by the brick shit house alpha description).

[Tillyscoutsmum]

I've been warned. DD has her first swimming lesson tomorrow. I need to take extremely tinkerish 18 month DS with me. I shall leave the shampoo at home

[Meglet]

I never shower my dc's after swimming.

They have a bath at the end of the day, doesn't even flare up their eczema if it's not showered off straight away. I tried to get 4yo DS to shower once but he had a screaming meltdown so we don't bother.

[pfbornot]

I don't shower my DCs after swimming either. I just get the clothes on them as quickly as poss and get out of there.

[lulu05]

The thing that really gets me is they are teaching their kids to be completely inconsiderate. DS loves to linger in the shower after swimming and I have made a point of saying to him 'look at all the other kids waiting, they are getting cold, get out of the shower now'.

[lulu05]

I sound completely up myself don't I?! Perfect and all that. But you get what I mean!

[NorthernGobshite]

Drives me bonkers too.

[Popbiscuit]

Gastongood idea! Hot-wheel son is a maniac-- bit of a monkey so I'm conditioned to the pariah-effect this imparts on our entire family. The hot-wheel was one of those magnetic-climbing models and it climbed right up a double bank of lockers and over the top. I had to SCALE THE LOCKERS to retrieve it. It's up there in my top 5 most embarrassing moments.

[squeakytoy]

The ones that drive me mad are the lazy cows who cant be bothered to spend 20p getting a locker. So they leave all the kids belongins in each cubicle. Effectively blocking every sodding cubicle for at least half an hour, usually with the exception of the cubicles with broken doors.

I am not sure what the protocol would be, but I am always tempted to shove their stuff back out onto the passageway.

[WinterLover]

Come to our leisure centre - no one uses the showers... mainly because they dribble water out and are piss useless