To think that it is up to me what I do when my child in swimming lesson.

[swimmingmum6]

My children have swimming lessons at a lovely local swim school. The groups are small. Teacher is with 3-4 children in pool, parents poolside but not involved in lesson. I enjoy watching but also chatting to the other parents and answering the odd email so that I don't have to do it when my children are in bed, or when I'm properly with them.

Just had this posted on Facebook page. AIBU to dislike the tone? I'm not glued to my phone, look up and encourage frequently but I am also a working mum who gets little space in the daytime and reserve the right to catch up with a couple of emails while my child is in the pool supervised and learning.

The post reads:
Recently I have noticed a sharp increase in the use of mobile phones and tablets on poolside during our lessons.

Understanding how busy our lives are parents can be, I would like to trial our poolsides as ‘Digital free’ zones.

I would like to give you all permission to step out of your hectic day whilst your child is swimming with us by turning your phone off or onto silent.

It is wonderful to see a child encouraged and supported by their parent/Carer poolside when they have achieved something new or master a skill they have been working on. These shared experiences will create memories of their precious early years.

I am hoping by giving you permission to delay writing that email or text will enable you to relax, focus on quality time with your child and create a closer ** (name of swimschool) Community!

If you have a sibling waiting for their lesson or their brother/sister why not encourage them to watch, pick up additional teaching points or bring a book or homework to do.

Should you have a pressing matter to attend to or need to make an urgent call, please may I ask you to step out of the pool to do this when swimming with us.

I would appreciate your thoughts on this idea, so please do respond to this post with a 👍🏼 or ❤️ or comment below.

With much love and many thanks,
(Name of swimschool teacher)

What do you think?

Well we are allowed to take photos and videos which I'm so grateful for.

Just take a book instead

Sounds OTT and patronising to me. At our pool we aren't allowed to stsy poolside. I watch from the cafe and use my phone a bit. I have been wondering when I can go to the gym instead!

The message is fine, unfortunately the tone is patronising. Interesting that so many subsequent posters have assumed that the swimschool teacher is a woman though. I can't see where the OP specifies that.

You could always reply and say:

Please note that there is no such word as "onto" and I hope you will remove it from your vocabulary

There's nothing like a good dose of sarcasm to countermand those among us who seek to be patronising.

Give you permission to leave your phone away . Add that to the patronising shit that wedding invitations are when they say about giving you a night off from your kids.

You are an adult, I am sure you wave to your child etc but quite frankly given a child could drown I think it is best that parents aren't giving them any noise or gestures to listen to or look at which could distract them.

Not allowed personal phones at work. Not allowed them when driving. Not allowed them at school for pick up and drop off. Busy in the evenings with homework/reading/dinner/baths etc and you shouldn't look at your phone before bed.

😂

Unless the T&Cs specify otherwise, I think my £ is spent on the teacher teaching my child to swim. What I do in that time is non of her business.

the message patronising and self important. what are you going to say op? 🍿

I get the sentiment but holy god I can get most of the week’s general admin zapped in 30/45 mins if I hammer it.

Believe me when I tell you that as lovely as it would be to sit poolside, clap and whoop when Tarquin and Fenella perfect the butterfly, I’d be concerned i would be more of a distraction to the lesson than a silent aide.

TL:DR as long as phones aren’t peeping and buzzing YANBU

Jesus, how sanctimonious.

Does depend on the age of the kids and the level they are at.

My 4yo calls me about 500 times a lesson "mum look at this" ... I try to limit my phone usage so she knows I am watching and stops yelling at me

YANBU. Fuck her off. I'd completely ignore this type of message. I used to read a book on my Kindle when mine were in lessons, or an actual book. I'm long past the age when the self-appointed school marm has any effect on me.

This is why parenting is so hard these days- everywhere you turn, people are judging you.

As a paying customer, I give you permission to ignore the fuck out of that!

I might get involved by watching the teacher and later pointing out ways they could improve their teaching

Go to the cafe during the lesson.
TBF I don't think you should be allowed anything with a camera around a pool.

I'd also point out to the management that her job is to keep an eye on her charges not their parents and what they are doing and I find it concerning that she's monitoring the parents when she's being employed to teach children to swim.

Mixed feelings tbh. Everyone seems glued to their phones these days and i'd be willing to bet that most of it isn't 'important emails'.

I must say though, that ''I would like to give you all permission to step out of your hectic day'' really reminds me of the ''we've banned kids from our wedding so you can let your hair down'' type invitations.

"I would like to give you all permission" - so, so patronising. That would be my comment.

Cringy and disingenuous- as if adults need permission to not use their phone but I agree with no phones from a safeguarding point of view.

I like how she also ordered you to respond with either the thumbs up or love response. I'd respond with a message to the management on her attitude.

I think it's fine. If you want to use the time to catch up on work, you can sit outside.

Every swimming pool I know (and I'm not saying I know them all!!) bans phones near the poolside for safeguarding reasons.
I suspect this is the real reason. However they've gone all round the houses to try to say so. They don't want parents to think that they are accusing someone of being dodgy so have dressed the request up.

That would annoy me too. I go on Saturdays and do tend to watch the lesson or chat to other parents but some are on their phones. If I could get away with closing my eyes and snoozing for the half hour I'd do it - but I'd probably snore I'd tell them to concentrate on teaching my child to swim, which is what they are being paid for, and that you'll send work emails if you wish, which is what you're being paid for.

Who are they to say how you spend your time? Sure, there are some parents who spend all the time on their phones, which is heartbreaking - but those who catch up on work stuff specifically so that they can focus on their kids when they get home are not the same as that.

Not all parents even stay for swimming lessons, in fact I found that the majority at our pool sit in the cafe area, where they can do what they like.

Although having said that, I would personally prefer poolsides to be tech free zones, not because of that, but because of the risk of children being photographed. But that's just me. I worry too much.