not wanting other people to take the toys I have brought to the pool

[chloekitten]

OK, I genuinely cant decide if I am being really petty or not.

When I take my son swimming we take two floats and a whacky noodle. He doesnt play with them every minute, and sometimes we put them at the side of the pool.

AIBU to be annoyed when someone else picks them up and starts playing with them without looking round or checking to see if they belong to someone else?

I dont mean if a child picks them up, because they dont really understand ownership they just see a toy and want to play with it. I mean if an adult picks it up. Sometimes they play with it for a LONG time and them I am hovering round and not daring to take it back because it looks like I am then stealing it off them.

The other side of the argument is that if I am not playing with them its selfish to not want anyone else to. But its sort of the fact that they never ask, they just assume they are there for the taking. And also you could argue that I have taken them for my son to play with when he chooses not just inbetween when other people are playing with them.

The other side again, is that how are they supposed to know who they belong to, to ask, as we could be anywhere in the pool? The other side is they clearly belong to SOMEONE, and they are clearly not theirs, so they shouldnt just take them.

I have never picked up a toy that isnt mine in a public space and just started playing with it with my child.

AIBU??

I would think that lots of people think they're 'pool toys' and so not an individuals.

Put a name tag or something on so it's clear they don't belong to the pool

Write your son's name on them in permanent marker?

Yep I'd probably assume they were pool toys. Our pool has toys they throw in the water for kids.

If you leave them on the edge people will assume they are the pools. Leave them further away with your towel.

Then you can get narked if people take them.

I take my dd swimming at my gym and kids pool bad plenty of things like these to play with. I would assume they think its the pools equipment.
dd has played with other peoples things when there is none out but would always ask.
Put his name on it, you may find this resolves your problem.

why can't you tell the person using it that it's yours, not belonging to the public pool?

agree, get a permanent marker and put your name on it

Oh I hate this! Our pool chuck in some balls, floats and noodles and people bring their own. I've given up explaining to my son and it's impossible to tell what is what. If he sees someone playing with something then leaving it at the side he'll ask if it's theirs or the pools.

Write names on what you take but don't get nippy when other people play with them.

We take various toys to the pool when we go and you can't play with them all at once. I have my sons' names written along the sides in permanent marker so it's clear they are ours. If someone else starts using one then I'm happy for another child to be enjoying it while we're playing with something different; however as it's all clearly marked I have no problems going up to them and requesting whatever it is back. So far nobody has been arsey with me for asking either.

Like everyone else has said I'd assume they belonged to the pool and were available for anybody to use. How would somebody know who to ask if you've left them on the side and aren't near them? Anything on the side is fair game.

Either write your name on them clearly or don't take them. YABU.

Didn't we have this thread a while back? Did I dream it? Or are you still that offended by it you have posted again?

i haven't seen this thread before, does that mean we'll have one about big boys in the women's toilets again soon?

Our pool has "pool toys". I'd assume that people don't realise that the toys are yours and think that they are communal. Marking yours or your DC name on it with magic marker should remedy the problem.

I saw a similar thread fairly recently. Must have been recent, I haven't been here long.

The rules are very easy:

If the pool has lots of toys out YABU. How is the adult to know. All noodles and floats look the same. Mark your son's toys with his name and then just ask for them back if someone else uses them.

If the pool does not have toys out YANBU. It would be nice if people checked who the toys belonged to before taking them. But the solution is the same.

Either way it is a teeny bit petty and easy to solve with a little bit of assertiveness.

At the pool I go to they dont ever provide toys. I would understand it if there was a mix of pool toys and personal toys but there never is.

At the pool I went to yesterday the pool provided toys between 1 and 3pm and at 3pm the attendant blew a whistle and asked for all the pool toys back. There were one or two of us with toys of our own, and at this point people (who were in the pool when the whistle was blown) started playing with mine! GRRRRRR

Yes I think the marker pen it is, because it really does annoy me, even in I am being unreasonable.

Sorry it this was discussed before - it wasnt me last time. I just didnt check the back threads.

I take lots of toys with us to the pool as we go with friends and we share. What annoys me is when two or three 'strange' kids take every single toy! Last week we had two noodles, 8 bath toys, 4 'splat' balls and 4 balls, there were 6 children in our group and every single toy was being played with by another group of children! When I asked for some of them back, a mother said "they are only playing, it's good manners to share!"

I'm wondering what a 'whacky noodle' is.

Permanent marker, big writing is your friend

Ours has 0 toys so I always take a load and let whoever play with them. When it comes to home time I just collect them all up, if someone is playing with it then all you need to say is a quick "hi, this is our toy and we're going home now, cheers"
Always works for us anyway

I'd assume they were pool toys, sorry. Not everyone is a regular so they won't know that pool toys aren't provided.

I think 2 floats and a noodle is a little much for 1 child to play with, I think you are being petty. I feel the lesson of sharing is more important than having 3 water toys for your son to play with.

we have a couple of noodles and a few blow-up fish.

the noodles have a zigzag pattern in permanent marker which makes them easy to distinguish from the pool stuff.

but I think the unwritten rule is that toys are shared.

i'd be guilty of this, and I have been, simply by thinking they are pool toys (most are). I think the best them to do is polietly say 'excuse me, can I please have my dc's toys back, he left them on the side over there and they might have looked like they belong to the pool' no one would take offence. But do write his name in big letters on them if you can.
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Ok, just read other posts,I would still ask for them back nicely but firmly ifthey were mine, nothing to be embarrassed about.