To Be P'd Off With Swimming Pool Counter Staff

[rockinhippy]

but as I've just had to deal with stroppy mare DD from hell, whilst trying to juggle my way home with bag & damned crutches so maybe I am BU - MN jury here you go --

Just taken DD(8) to go swimming, intention was that she went in on her own & I sat in the gallery & waited/read etc

at the desk, young staff member pipes up, "oh let me check if the shallow pool is open yet" (it should be according to timetable ) - turns out it isn't - fine it happens BUT the silly Tart (I'm so allowed ) turns directly to DD & says "are you an able swimmer" - DD replies Yes (not entirely true & is then told by said silly Tart to go through & use the big pool - of course responsible Mum here is then left having to say NO, its not safe, you can't touch the bottom with your feet, not that strong a swimmer etc etc - queue strop all the way home & she's still in her room sulking now -

the more I think on it, the more annoyed I am & the more worrying this actually is - around here DD can go swimming on her own at her age, so others can too - does this woman just let any kid who is a bit over confident in their swimming ability just go through & get in a deep water pool - or AIBU & over reacting because I'm fed up having made a big effort (crutches) only to get pay back with a strop

I imagine she either thought you'd be swimming with her, or would point out that your child isn't an able swimmer.

Not a biggy really.

I cannot believe they would allow an unaccompanied child in, regardless of how good they were at swimming TBh

I would have thought they would need to be 12/13 to go on their own

in our pool kids of 8 , 7 and 6 yrs need one adult per 2 kids, under 5s need one-to-one supervision

YANBU to be annoyed at her asking your child whilst you are there. YABvvU for calling the woman a tart. Angry or not.

it 8 yrs & up to go in on their own here - I don't really have a problem with that (did the same & younger whe small) but I did presume as the pool are allowing it that young, that they would be more responsible in letting them just use the shallow pool

Unless you called her that because she was bitter and sharp

silly sod behind the desk, yanbu, if she asked my four yr old he would have said yes too! why don't they stick to the timetable its there for a reason. am sure your crutches gave it away that you wouldn't be swimming

Unless you called her that because she was bitter and sharp lol - no mantic I think its me whos being bitter & sharp right now - hence the name calling

At our pool, able swimmers over eight can swim alone. But they are always challenged at poolside and have to (each time) sit a test for the lifeguards to prove they are OK. After the test they get a wristband and can swim alone.

Would this have been the next stage for your daughter?

I know families at ours have said "yes, they are able" and then asked for a refund when the lifeguards failed them (which they didn't get).

Oh - and I have seen several parents with crutches who swim over the years!

I don't think she did anything wrong. She was told that she was an able swimmer - perhaps she should have asked you instead of your DD, or asked confirmation from you. By 'young' did you mean 'teenager'? If she was a teenager, she mightn't have been able to open the shallow pool, or been able to find someone to do it if she had to sit at the counter.
So she had a solution for you, to use the big pool. It wasn't her fault the small pool wasn't open, and she wasn't a 'silly tart' to suggest to use the bigger pool.
YABU.

But you were there so could stop your daughter from going in the pool, which is different than if she had been sent to it without your knowledge. It's not really the woman's fault that your daughter threw a strop because you had to say no.

I've calmed down by now :) - though still feel it wrong of the woman to start off speaking with me & then suddenly ask DD directly if she could swim & then tell her it was okay to go through to the deep pool without waiting for me to reply (which I quickly did & stopped it - must have had my gimp mask unzipped

& you're right as regards crutches, people DO swim there in worse states, not relevant though, but the water there is to cold for me - though the fact that DD has a free pass & I hadn't paid & also already asked if it was okay for her to go in on her own

got to say though, the woman probably wound me up more so because she was filing & painting her nails all through talking (hate that) & was generally not very helpful - ie my asking WHEN the pool DD could safely used re opened, thinking we could pop back in a little while - got a "Dunno" without bothering to check - probably didn't want to smudge her nail polish by picking up the phone & asking

Also as they encourage kids around here to swim often & go in alone & they go free, this was a bit of a test run to see if DD was okay, as had intended to start taking her & a few of her friends after school & drop them off & pick up later - glad I hadn't done that this time & checked it out first with DD - DD later admitted that she hadn't understood what I meant by "but you can't touch the bottom with your feet in that pool" - for some reason she thought it meant she wasn't allowed - not it was way too deep

& you might be right there mrsdaffodil I hope so at least, because I know a lot of kids go there alone, scary to think they might be sent into the other pool on their say so

Anyway, thanks for the replies :) - I put my formal complaint pen away - lol

My DD is 8 and goes in the big pool by herself with me watching from nearby. However, she's a fairly strong swimmer (although small - we are constantly being grilled about whether she really is 8!).

Can she really not touch the bottom in the shallow end?

At 8 I wouldn't be dropping off my DC and friends to swim then collecting them later, tbh.

Weirdly my own DD can swim like a fish UNDER water, but has just not got to grips with breathing yet for swimming properly above - hence why she thinks she can swim well & we don't - & us trying to teach her ANYTHING thats another thread all by itself

YABU. My siblings and I certainly went in the 'big' pool alone at that age.

Why if an unaccompanied child is a strong swimmer, does it matter if there is no adult in there with them as long as there is somebody watching them as well as pool lifeguards.
My son is 6 and is a very strong swimmer (2 full olympic-sized lengths no problem) and whilst he is too young to assess potentially dangerous situations and would be intimated by other much bigger children, I don't worry about him being able to swim!

However at 8 I wouldn't necessarily go in with him, but I wouldn't leave him and come back and get him. I would sit on the side and watch if I wasn't swimming with him. I see no problem with this.

not in that particul pool soupdragon it used to be a diving pool or something according to DH - I think the shallow pool actually used to be the shallow end of the main pool, as its quite odd to what I've known before

& thats fair enough clenched we all differ in that, as do our kids DD is usually mature for her age & I hadn't intended going far - probably hanging around watching without them knowing - they like to feel ineipendent :)

sorry that last post was to ashamedandconfused

OP YABU, what on earth has the woman done wrong?

& I used to take my younger brother with friends on a bus to a pool when I was a kid at that age too - but we were only allowed in 1 pool, all the Kids did that, it was quite normal & I don't see a problem with giving her a bit of freedom & building her confidence - her friends parents are fine with that too - safety in numbers & all that - at least so I thought bar this incident

how odd. When you said shallow pool/deep pool I imagined the usual training pool/main pool set up.

X post chicle your answers is in my other replies :)

you're right soupdragon it is a very odd set up, I think what they now use as a teaching pool, used to be the shallow pool & the big pool shallow end, is now the shallow pool - main pool starts off at about 4,1/2 - 5ft - over DDs head - hence why I think the wall may have been put in afterward to split the main pool - its an old building, that has been revamped

Curious though chiccle would yu be happy if you were talking to a stranger & they suddenly broke off & spoke to your own DCs & sent them off to do something that was potentially dangerous - without your say so, would that not p you off??