To think this is outrageously irresponsible parenting

@wiredandtired parents are responsible for their children, not the manager of the bar or whatever.

This was a similar tragic case. Nothing about the hotel being responsible for it. It’s notable the pool was packed at the time.

I mean by all means, tell somebody, but I know from working in these places the most you’re likely to get is a weak smile and they’ll tell the parents ‘someone (and may make it obvious who!) has said …’

Someone needs to have a sharp word with the pool lifeguard as well. No way would that be allowed in the UK.

That's terrible. I don't what's wrong with these people

I remember my divorced next door neighbour's ten year old walked to his dad's instead of waiting to be picked up. He was upset. No charge on his fone so I took him.in- he knew me to say hello to. Cue mom and dad separately rocking up, obviously relieved but distressed. Neither one ever thanked me. They are lucky it was me. They knew I had enhanced DBS, due to the nature of my job.

Whenever we go to Eurocamps just how relaxed parents seem to be with their tiny kids amazes me. Last time we found a toddler, screaming her head off, about 10pm having fallen off her scooter near the campsite bins. This was a huge site which opened straight onto a busy road. She only spoke Dutch but we eventually figured out where her tent was, about 10 mins walk away, and her parents hadn't even noticed she was gone!

Every eurocamp I've been to has signs up around the pool saying children must be supervised. I used to go and sit and watch my kids until they were about 12. So it is worth mentioning to the staff if you see it again so they can speak to the parents. They aren't going to want a child drowning on one of their sites.

I remember being on holiday with some friends when I was about 18 and playing a game with some younger kids of about 6 or 7 in the pool. Every time they saw us at the pool after that, the parents would just try to leave their kids with us!

Of course they have authority to tell someone to get out of the pool.

They own/ manage the hotel and the pool, and if someone were to drown in their pool they would be liable.

A 2 year old in a pool unsupervised in a situation where they could drown is a bit different to a child 'making a nuisance of himself'.

@CaffeinatedMum
Some parents don't deserve the privilege
The fact that his sister suddenly appeared shows it may be "her job" to always do so and keep tabs on him
Willing to bet if he'd drowned
They'd have blamed everyone else
And the poor eldest child too

@wiredandtired the ‘manager’ has no more authority than you do in this instance. They aren’t the police and they aren’t social services and they are very unlikely to want to get involved.

I saw this on the other thread where a young child was making a bit of a nuisance of himself and that was the same. ‘Tell the staff! Tell the staff! Tell the staff!’ I’m going 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ I don’t know what people think is in job description of people working in campsites is but telling parents how to parent their children is not one of them.

I wouldnt bother parents have no regard and sound dyfunctional at home as well. Then you wonder why kids are acting out and have adhd issues

If someone told a waiter that a 2 year old was unsupervised in the pool, then they would be perfectly able to go and get a manager. Of course that is within their remit. If they work in a hotel with a pool then they will have been told about the pool rules and what to do if something happens.

That isn’t really in the job description of a 20 year old serving drinks, is it?

It’s up to you but I am not seeing this as a ‘tell the staff’ thing. The only one who’d be interested is the lifeguard if there is one.

Of course the staff can do something about it - they can tell the parents that a 2 year old is not allowed in the pool unsupervised. Holiday resorts and hotels always have rules in place about this.

They have a level of liability if there was an accident so of course they would care.

Waiters/ bar workers can fetch a manager if they are not confident but they will all have been told the rules around the pool if they work near one.

A while ago I came across a toddler wandering around on a patch of grass near my house.. it was surrounded by houses and many people there who live in them let their kids play on it, but he was all alone. I watched for a bit wondering if there were parents watching him. After a bit I went over asked where his mum and dad were. He was so little his speech wasn't great but he kept pointing at the pub nearby and saying party...there's a function room upstairs so I took him there and found his absolutely dozy, very posh mother sitting there without a care in the world. I explained i had found him wandering around outside she was totally oblivious and flippant and looked at me like i was mad

I am not seeing where there is any liability for the site owners. It’s all a bit ‘tell the teacher’ isn’t it?

no but if there was an accident there might be some liability for the site owners or bad publicity so it's in the site owners' interests to enforce supervision. campsites we've visited have done this.

There were loads of comments like this on the thread about the little boy coming up to the woman on holiday and I don’t get it at all. The staff are waiters or bar workers. They aren’t the police or social services or anyone with any more power than the OP to do anything about it.

That’s horrific. My 9 year old can swim perfectly well and I don’t like her being more than an arms length away from me in a pool

It's shockingly bad/dangerous parenting (and I'm quite a relaxed parent).
Children can drown very quickly and completely silently in just a few inches of water.

My son aged 5 fell into a pool in Morocco. I was with him and dived down and grabbed him straight away but the terrifying thing was that the pool was busy, two lifeguards and lots of people but only I noticed because I was specifically watching him. (He's an adult now and fit and well thank goodness.) Apparently it's more common for kids to drown in a pool with lifeguards than without because a lot of parents assume someone else is watching the kids so they don't need to.

I was waiting for my son to come out of the toilets at a busy motorway service station last year and a little girl of about 3 appeared on her own. I thought that she must have drifted out of the toilets and waited with her for a few minutes but no one was looking for her. I went to find a staff member but they were a bit useless too. The girl was old enough to chat randomly but not answer questions coherently. After what was at least 5 minutes but felt more like 10, she drifted off towards the restaurant, and found the table that her family were sitting at. They didn't have a clue that she was missing and just assumed that she was playing with other children.

If she'd drifted off out the back, there's a pond big enough to be hazardous. Out the front is a car park constantly heaving with traffic. If heaven forbid she had encountered a malicious person willing to take advantage, she could have been taken miles away before the alarm was raised.

As for swimming pools on holiday, the number of parents who can barely swim themselves letting young non-swimmers into deep water with dodgy floats/ floatation aids is alarming. And in busy pools, it's hard for lifeguards and other people to notice a child in distress as it's not what the public tends to think it looks like.

Yes that’s awful. So unsafe. Really you need to be constantly following around a child of that age around water of any depth.

It’s neglect, pure and simple. Horrifying really because next time there may not be a responsible parent nearby and you can also bet that neglect is much broader than pool safety.

It’s appalling, but sadly not unusual.

My daughter was a lifeguard at a local public pool and I lost count of the amount of times she pulled a toddler out of deep water, and then waited for 10+ minutes announcing on the intercom before any parent even showed up. These slackers think just because there’s a lifeguard they don’t have to parent. Shouldn’t be allowed to have kids.

I would have reported it to a member of staff at the time!