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Original poster

Straw poll - toddler and swimming pool?

61 replies

SendintheArdwolves · 06/03/2018 18:28

Next summer, we're planning a big group holiday (four couples, few singletons, etc) One of the party is a child who will be about 2 and a half. Most of the party want to book a place with an outdoor pool. Is this a) fine since the child will be supervised or b) a bit risky in case DC wanders off for a second and falls in?

OP posts:
carefreeeee · 06/03/2018 18:50

Not up to parents of the toddler to decide no one else can have a pool. A compromise would be a gated one and make sure toddler wears flotation device if near pool.

Disagree with those saying singles and child can't go on holiday together. What happens if your friend has a baby - you might still want to go away together if you always have in the past!

eurochick · 06/03/2018 18:51

I'd want a gated pool.

Jackanorystory · 06/03/2018 18:55

I'd say no on the pool. A quiet family holiday I'd take it...dh or me always watching kids etc but you know what its like when there are too many people. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking everyone is paying attention... especially with doors and people coming and going.

At my dad's recently...9 adults in the room and a few kids. I thought dh was watching toddler ds ... turned round and he was halfway up the stairs. It's easy done.

relaxitllbeok · 06/03/2018 18:58

Totally up to the parents of the toddler to decide whether they want to go, though - if the others need/want a setup that would mean one of them would have to be on full alert at all times when bit shut indoors, it wouldn't be surprising if they felt that wasn't much of a holiday. (They know their toddler, too - some would make this harder than others.)

The other scenario I can imagine, as a worrier, is that the parents would be fine with it and I as an unrelated adult wouldn't - I have found myself more aware of risk to a child than the child's parents seem to be, and it's awful. You either keep watch yourself, or you try to alert them, which is hard to do without it sounding like a criticism, and may be met by "oh it'll be fine", and then you second guess yourself and keep worrying anyway... If I expected that to happen on this holiday, I'd run a mile.

Mascarponeandwine · 06/03/2018 19:03

No way. Could not trust the other adults to be careful with the gate to the pool, if they are not used to policing their own behaviour in regards to toddler safety. They might be vigilant, but it would be easy for them to forget, especially after a couple of wines. Not their fault just the way it is.

ferrier · 06/03/2018 19:05

Pool. It's up to the parents to decide if they want to handle the increased safety concerns. Not make all the others go pool-less.

Theresasmayshoes11 · 06/03/2018 19:06

catefreee baby yes toddler nooooooo. Jesus why would you

2b1c51 · 06/03/2018 19:07

I think it also depends on the child. My eldest would have been fine at 2.5 years with a pool (gated or otherwise) as she was not one to wander off (would never bloody leave me alone) and was big on 'rules'. With my 1 year old I can already tell that at 2.5 he will not be trusted with a pool unless gated with a secure, high fence and a gate that is not left open for a second...

Mascarponeandwine · 06/03/2018 19:09

In fact I’d rather not go. Being alert all the time would be 24/7 low level anxiety for the whole holiday. Waste of money. I’d either go and leave the toddler at home with family (who don’t own a pool) or sit this one out for a few years.

FrancisCrawford · 06/03/2018 19:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Theresasmayshoes11 · 06/03/2018 19:15

And it’s far more likely to be innatentive with more adults.

Sounds like hell on earth to me

FluffyWuffy100 · 06/03/2018 19:20

As the childless adults I wouldn’t accept a holiday without a pool.

As the parents of the toddler - I’d be shutting myself about the pool and might not think it was much of a holiday watching the kid all the time.

Sarahjconnor · 06/03/2018 19:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bella2bella · 06/03/2018 19:26

Fine, done it multiple times, have to be very aware though. Would get fenced if possible. We went with villa plus once and they had fences you could pay extra for.

AHedgehogCanNeverBeBuggered · 06/03/2018 19:27

Francis what a terrible shock! Thank God you were there. Flowers

BustopherJones · 06/03/2018 19:29

We went away with family to a villa with a pool - no gates, but wouldn’t have left the toddler unsupervised anyway. My younger sister is a student and friends of hers were there - in couples and singles and it worked fine. We didn’t spend all our time altogether but in a group that big you’d be splitting off anyway at least sometimes.

Littlecaf · 06/03/2018 19:30

We did this last year and the pool was gated. There was no way DS (2.5 at the time) could have wandered in my mistake. He wouid have needed to open a latch at adult chest height and undo another catch to lift the gate to get to the pool.

I was more concerned about the GPS leaving the front door open and him wandering into the courtyard where there were cars around or falling out of bed in the middle of the night than the pool.

Just make sure it’s gated.

IWouldLikeToKnow · 06/03/2018 19:48

We've taken our son - now 3 - to France the last 2 summers to a house with an outdoor pool. And we will again this year. Three houses - none with gated pools. We have other family traveling with us also. We just keep him constantly with us. We don't sit about relaxing at the pool. If we're outdoors we're away from the pool unless we are in there with him. He is a crazy impulsive little man but he is never left unsupervised at any time - home or away. But I don't fancy going on holidays without a pool.

ferrier · 07/03/2018 08:28

Honestly it's not that difficult supervising a toddler. You just have to make sure one person is on dedicated supervising duty and doesn't stop until they've officially handed over to another person.

Avaricii · 07/03/2018 08:43

Taken our 2yr old DD on holiday past two years to villas with pools with friends. Its the parents call (although probably their choice is pool or not going if everyone else wants a pool) but its just requires them to always be with their toddler. You can't leave them alone outside at all. Pool was a must for us for entertaining a toddler- but we didn't rely on friends for supervision around/in the pool. Just too nuch responsibility

2rebecca · 07/03/2018 08:56

fine, but I'd only go if I knew the child's parents would supervise their child properly and not expect others in the group to do so.

Theresasmayshoes11 · 07/03/2018 09:04

Ferrier

That’s fine as long as the parents are not expecting everyone else to take a turn!

YellowFlower201 · 07/03/2018 09:13

We did it with friends and their toddler last year. Wasn't a problem. Everyone was very aware of him and the crawling baby.

Drinaballerina · 07/03/2018 09:18

We've done exactly this - mix of people we had a toddler (only one). As long as pools gated it's fine. We found everyone did their own thing during the day and then bbq and hang around villa in the evening.

Non parents were def not aware of the limitations of children though (eg why can't you come out to dinner at v posh restaurant at 9pm).

ferrier · 07/03/2018 14:42

That’s fine as long as the parents are not expecting everyone else to take a turn!

Absolutely not! I'd be quite wary of anyone without children of their own supervising my child anyway.

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