... to think children should not be allowed in the main pool?

[littleemma1]

So, I have recently taken up swimming in the past couple of weeks (which I am really enjoying and finding I'm getting fitter already!) but I've noticed something that's really bugging me already... children being allowed to mess around in the main pool when it's full of people actually trying to swim.
Now I know the MN jury will most likely SLATE me for this as I will openly admit I do not have children yet (notice the YET, actively trying, that's a different thread!) so I probably come across as biased.
I hasten to add that there are 3 other children's pools at said swimming centre. Admittedly the biggest of the three is closed at the times I've been going for private swimming lessons but that's still leaves another 2!
So, why do the parents stand there letting their beloved children splash around, swimming right across other people's paths, and say/do nothing?! Surely they should have some consideration for other swimmers who are there to SWIM (yes swim, in a swimming pool) but it would seem not.
I honestly think the pool could/should bring in a policy for adults only in the main pool during peak times for example first thing in the morning (for the people who need to go to work, like me) or last thing in the evening when most children would be in bed?
There are other things that annoy me about pool etiquette like people who refuse to swim around you and think they have the almighty right to swim in a straight line, people who get in the pool and then don't swim, just standing at the sides, I could go on forever but I won't.

So, after that rant, AIBU?

Why is your fitness more important than the kids' fun? Or vice versa? Equally important I would say, so you've just got to deal with it.

That said, it seems irresponsible of the pool management not to have specific "lane swim" and "free-for-all" sessions.

Yanbu.

My local pool is huge and they only ever have one lane and the rest of the pool children make it difficult to swim (and they have a separate pool all together). There is plenty of room for 3 lanes meaning half the pool could be used for lanes.

Annoyingly my pool also has 5 hours a week for 50+ only where the whole pool is lanes so I often can't use it at lunchtimes.

The adult only sessions are only ever 7am or 9-10pm and I can't make those.

Oh and just one lane isn't enough as people swim at different speeds so only the quick people can use the lane.

Speak to them about when lane swimming is. Around here it's usually before 9am and after 7pm because some adults WORK you know

If the pools open are one or two foot deep they're no good for kids learning to swim anyway.

When our usual pool is closed we've had to go to a more traditional Victorian pool - they usually have three lanes for lane swimming and a two lane wide area for playing.

It's the summer holidays. They are having fun. Id also guess that the other children's pools aren't deep or are tiny otherwise why wouldn't you swim in those and if that is the case why shouldn't the children go in the pool deep enough to swim and horseplay about it. Now I'm a big one for making my children accommodate for others however in a free swimming session I'd let them play in the main pool (with a gentle keep over this side and try not to get in the way of people swimming up and down) but I certainly wouldn't stop them for going in the pool and playing.
You seem to have a problem with everyone not doing exactly what you are, swimming in different directional lines to you, standing still; how dare they! You do realise that it's a public pool and not for your own private use? Try joining an private gym these often have very few swimming session when children are allowed in or stop going till after the summer holidays.

Most pools have some adult only sessions where some lane swimming is available. It shouldn't be all lane swimming as some adults can't do this.

FGFerret, that is daft. I used to be in a swimming club team at that age and would have out swum many an adult in such a session.

OP, this might be a long shot, but are there any hotels by you? Some of them here will allow people to sign up for a membership solely for their pool/gym for considerably less than the local leisure centre and it can be less busy when it's not peak tourist season as not many people know about it.

YABU.

Swimming doesn't mean just swimming up and down the pool. It might for you, but it doesn't for everyone else.

And I imagine that when you were a child you liked to splash about in the pool, too. It's what they enjoy. I'd much prefer to see children playing in pools then parked on a couch staring at a screen.

Sounds as though you don't have the right pool. Both our local ones have "swim for fitness" or "Lane swimming" in the early morning or evening...because the people most likely to use those sessions are working during the day? They will put in a lane or two at general swimming sessions if people want to swim uninterrupted but the pool is quite large. I've been in general sessions with 2 lanes and the shallow end cordoned off for lessons...it was fine.

You should be complaining to the pool if you want a roped off area for adult swimmers only not at parents and children who have an equal right to use the pool as they wish. Your rights do not trump theirs.

My child has been kicked by a Lane swimmer who was in the small pool (school was using main pool) but still thought she had the right to plough through all the toddlers in the little pool.

Zero sympathy here.

The pool is there for everyone not just you. People are entitled to use it, & enjoy it, in whatever way they want to (unless it's a specific session). If they want to stand at the side & do exercises or just chat that's up to them. They've paid their money the same as you. If you're that bothered, find a different pool that has more lane sessions.

My local pool has a toddler pool at its head, sectioned off with a raised floor and toys etc. I really wish that people with toddlers used that rather than taking up the middle of the main pool. BUT it's a public pool in school holidays, will probably calm down afterwards. Perhaps you could suggest sectioning an area for people who want to actually swim rather than bop around in the water? I did that after having to leave my local pool (asked for fee back too) because it was like toddler soup. Wasn't the only one and management took it seriously, it now has a slow and a fast lane so ideally suits everyone.

I left my local gym for this reason. Huge and beautiful children's pool, small and fantastically cold and boring adult's pool. Adult's pool almost always limited to two lanes for actual swimming while several hundred screaming kids had swimming lessons in the rest of it.

By the time you'd added a man doing Man Butterfly Stroke plunging up and down one lane like a killer whale, which rendered the whole lane unusable by anyone else, plus kids splashing, screaming in your ear and randomly hitting and kicking you as they swam by, the eight to twelve plus women trying to swim usually gave up, got out of the pool and went home.

I don't think YABU. If there are other options people should take their kids to the kids pool for their own children's safety if anything. Definitely speak to a manager and see if they can put some lanes in.

Children's fun isn't less important than fitness BUT parents should understand that it also isn't more important and control their kids when they are in a public pool.

Also to the poster that was asking about the emphasis on WORK, I don't think the OP means that working gives her entitlement, rather that she can't just pick up and go whenever she wants to, which is something that everyone that works (unless they have flexible hours) would understand.

And I'll add that's no aspersions on the children - shove what appears to be several hundred year 1 and 2 kids in a pool after school and they're going to be excited, scream and splash like mad and you're going to get accidentally kicked/thumped under water if you're close to them. It was bad management of time and space and overcrowding by the gym, not the kids' fault!

I think a bit U

Even if there are children's pools they are often for younger children so people would moan at likes of my 11 year old being in there too with tiny kids, fair enough in case he hurt them

Most pools have lanes you can use for swimming if kids annoy you.

This is the reason I pay for a private gym. If I went to the public pool I'd just have to deal with the people and I don't want to. Yes, it's more expensive but because it's more pleasurable I go more. Is this an option?

You realise that WORKING does not actually give you superior rights to use a shared space? You sound insufferably self-important. Consideration works both ways - you have none for others either.

YANBU at all

There should be a swimming area - at least one lane - , and a "non-swimming" area, everybody would enjoy themselves a lot more.

Not sure why the OP is being criticised for stating she works, it just means she doesn't have that much choice about the time she swims. Nowhere has anyone implied "superiority rights", get over yourselves...

YNBU at all. There are 2 kids pools available and they could lane off an area of the main pool for swimming. I swam every day for years and stopped 18 months ago because the selfish attitude of some parents got too much for me when I was expected to tolerate a 12 year old repeatedly swimming underneath me and a grabbing at my thighs, buttocks and breasts. I complained to his parent and was told that it was fine so I complained to the pool manager and was told that there was nothing he could do. In our family we call these people 'swimbeciles'

I'm sure it's annoying if you're swimming for fitness to have people (whether they're children or not) getting in your way.

Equally, I would imagine it's pretty annoying for people who aren't strong swimmers, need to swim widths because they're not confident or have just gone to the pool to splash around for fun to have people ploughing up and down at speed and crashing into them.

Welcome to using a communal facility. I get that you work and can't always be flexible with the times you swim, but plenty of the people with kids will also work and may only have one day/time off to spend on taking the kids swimming.

Gosh you should tell them you WORK. Should entitle you to a private pool surely??

YANBU.
At a minimum, there should be two lanes at all times for people who want to properly swim, and then the rest of the pool can be given over to splashing and non swimming.

Although it's not just children that annoy me in the pool, also people who swim slowly three abreast chatting as they go and then look appalled if you have the gall to do something like overtake them or create any splash whatsoever.

Also- I was once gifted a month membership to a fancy gym. Pool was childfree zen, also had beautiful sauna and jacuzzi. The distance and expense was impractical for me to consider full-time but perhaps that's something that could be an option? Even the lack of the kiddies screaming and wailing in my local pool was such a treat.

If there's a decent size kids pool that is deep enough for swimming then yes, kids should be in there if they just want to play. Personally I would enforce this if I was a pool manager. Our kids pool is usually closed though, other than for lessons, presumably to save money on extra lifeguards.
Even if it's only adults in the main pool you often find it's blocked by groups of swimmers (usually women) swimming up and down 3 or 4 abreast very slowly, chatting away.
If you want to swim properly you really need to get in a lane if the pool has more than a couple of people in it. My pool does half open pool and half lane, which is the fairest solution. After that it's just a matter of enforcing lane ettiquette, and I've been swimming with people who clearly don't understand that lanes are for swimming laps in straight lines.