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?

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

so what - it can be whatsap banter with friends (cheaper than a phone call) reading the news (cheaper than buying a paper) shopping (time saver)
people are glued on their phone because they can do so many things on them, it's a good thing surely.

For the life of me, I can not fathom why the swim school didn't just say
'Mobile phones are banned for safeguarding purposes.'
Which is absolutely fine and right and can't be argued with. No idea why they wrote all that wank.
So, they are not being unreasonable to want no phones, but they are being unreasonable to explain it that way.

I'm raging for you.

Also a single mum. And I'd totally ignore it

there are some parents who spend all the time on their phones, which is heartbreaking

WHY?
what difference can it possibly make to have someone looking at their phone or someone looking at the person they are sitting next to and chatting with, or reading a book, or writing a list?
Of all the times when the kids do not need their parents attention at all, a lesson is the best one!

I agree with the principle of no phones and devices poolside. I don't think the message was right.

Gut instinct says they've reviewed safeguarding and have realised that it's a potential issue but don't want to say "in light of loads of devices showing us we have a potential safeguarding jssue..."

The permission to step out of your day is nauseating and as PP said sounds like people who have child free weddings 6 hours from home who act like they're doing you a favour.

My child swims 10hrs a week, 2hrs at a time I would die (not literally) of boredom if I couldn't Mumsnet while he is swimming. In fact I'm doing it right now.

Our pool is in a concrete box with no WiFi or signal or whatever. Most parents bring a book!

I think the idea behind it is well meant but the delivery of the message leaves alot to be desired.

A simple no phones by the poolside for safety guarding reasons would have been perfectly understandable and reasonable. They are the rules at the swim school we attend which are adhered to by all. Personally I love watching DCs and all the children learning and progressing so it's no hardship for me.

However dictating how you spend your time in such a patronising way and saying that you should be "in the moment" with your child gets an eye rolling reaction from me.

Christ - I find that incredibly patronising... I watch my child swimming but I don't study the lesson constantly for the whole 30 minutes with a false smile pasted onto my face, there are times when other children are swimming and he's just stood in the shallow end waiting for his turn!!!

Too add to my post there could be a number of people during different sessions to yours taking calls and being distracting to the class. I'm sure weve all heard people who wants everyone to know their buisness as they shout down their phone.
I think its probably a combination of over zealous parents taking photos of every stroke and personal calls that made them come to this decision but they dont want to appear like they are singling any one person out.

I used to swim lengths whilst DS at swimming lessons as it was one of my few opportunities to get in any exercise. Would that have been frowned upon as well, or is this more about people not using phones for safeguarding rather than nebulous parenting reasons?

I wouldn’t mind if my child was having 1-2-1 lessons, but whilst she’s just hanging around at the end of the pool whilst the other five kids in the class do their bit it’s not really that fascinating to watch.

Gosh how incredibly patronising.
Sitting poolside during the dc’s lessons is hardly a highlight of my week. Squashed together, over heating, in a noisy smelly leisure centre and then battling to get them ready whilst avoiding touching the filthy wet floor. Bleugh. The only saving grace is that for 30 minutes I can have some phone time.

Pretty standard. Our pool and the pools around us all have a no phone/electronics use around the pool and within the complex and you aren't allowed to leave the building while lessons are taking place. If you don't like it remove your child.

Patronising and controlling in one email: impressive! I'd ignore it and do what you please or what you need to do until they actually ban phones at poolside. How is answering emails or catching up on social media worse than chatting to other parents? Are they banning that, too?

Could you just wait in the foyer?

I'm surprised it was allowed in the first place. Safeguarding normally prohibits it.

It hadn't even occurred to me that I ought to be watching my kids schlepp up and down the pool. I occasionally catch a glimpse of them when I look up from my crochet/book, but I cannot imagine sustaining that interest for half an hour (or longer as my kids are older). Obviously if they're doing a competition or something I'd give it my full attention.

Our pool and the pools around us all have a no phone/electronics use around the pool and within the complex and you aren't allowed to leave the building while lessons are taking place.

I don't know any pools that have this rule. How can they police such a stupid policy and why do they get to decide that a book for example is more worthy than reading a story on a kindle?

The Op is an adult she doesn't need someone banning her from using her phone she's not a child.

The first paragraph mentions the noise.
Certainly taking/making calls poolside or pings of messages coming in would be distracting and annoying (not just to the teacher and pupils).

The rest looks like an ill-advised attempt to call upon people's good nature and guilt trip them, which was very sickly. It's up to parents whether they can be bothered to watch or not.

Perhaps she should been more abrupt and asked for people to please turn the irritating electrical noises off and go outside for calls and left it at that.

How ridiculous.

It's not their place to dictate how you spend that time.

They can have a strict rule in place for no taking photographs

Book them into the lessons at the local council pool is my advice, much cheaper it is free to visit at other times and none of this sanctimonious crap. Vast majority of the kids in swim club come from this route rather than private lessons.

How ridiculous.

It's not their place to dictate how you spend that time.

They can have a strict rule in place for no taking photographs or taking phone calls but they can't tell you not to browse or answer messages or emails.

They can do one, they are being paid to be engaging with your child and teach them to swim.

Very patronising.

One swim school we used banned phones due to safeguarding, that's fine I took a book. would this swim teacher object to parents reading? I found my two played up if they saw me watching them overtly, so I'd steal glances from my book whilst they were busy.