To think it’s a bit negligent to leave your DC in a water park for hours at a time?

[Rainallnight]

We’re on holiday at a place with an on site water park. DD has made friends with a little boy who’s 5, with an older brother who is 8.

Their parents routinely leave them unattended in the swimming pool for 3-4 hours at a time, just showing up to get them for meals etc.

The 8 year old is a good swimmer. The five year old has an enthusiastic doggy paddle.

DP and I are quite anxious about water safety generally so I am wondering if I’m being uptight or if this is genuinely weird.

YABU - of course it’s ok to leave kids this age unattended in pools/water parks

YANBU - of course it’s dangerous.

Jeeze mine are 11 & 9 and both very good confident swimmers but I still don’t leave them!

Absolutely unacceptable imo . You are right to be concerned

Totally agree but this is way beyond that line. You help a 5 year old gain confidence and independence by encouraging them to help with household chores, letting them chop their own snacks, letting them pick their own outfits and letting them climb a tree. You don't put them in a pool basically unsupervised when they can barely swim and you definitely don't leave their 8YO sibling to keep them alive. The guilt will live with that 8YO forever if something happens. It's beyond unreasonable

5 years old is certainly too young. And 8 years old is too young to supervising a 5 year old as well as taking care of themselves. But I wouldn't have a problem with an 8 year old and a friend of a similar age going to a water park on their own as long as they were reasonably mature for their age.

YANBU!

I was left unattended in a pool briefly as a child and almost drowned. Luckily a stranger noticed me on what I'm sure would've been the last time I managed to get up to the surface for air and rescued me.

Parents are lazy fuckers relying on someone else to watch the poor kids.

DS went to a trampoline park party last month, one of the girls from his class broke her ankle there. Her mum was nowhere to be seen, hadn't told the party host she wasn't staying and hadn't left her number with anyone. No one could reach her so she was carried into the party room with a foot the size of a melon and an ice pack. It wasn't until the trampoline area was cleared for the next session that we noticed the girls 2 yr old sister was still bouncing. The little sister had been left as well.

Both parents appeared at the party finish time and several parents went absolutely mental at them.

Completely unacceptable. You only have to look at the rules of public swimming pools to know that. And it’s not the case that 8 year olds can be generally left unattended for hours on end. Often there is a rule that no-one under 8 can be unsupervised, but at many pools I’ve been to it’s been a case of over 8s can only be unsupervised if they demonstrate their competence over a distance, which many 8 year olds can’t do. And that still wouldn’t make it ok to leave an 8 year old for ages.

I wouldn't have a problem with my 8yo confident swimmer going to local pool with a bunch of friends (our local pool allows this), but not a 5yo. I'd be less keen on doing the same at a water park, though.

You need to make the hotel manager aware. This is dangerous!

Obviously irresponsible to leave any child unattended there - if they don't have an accident, they could be abducted - have they never watched the news?

I was just thinking my parents let me at 9 and sister 6, wander around a holiday complex in Tenerife for hours swimming unsupervised. I can’t imagine doing that with my kids or anyone doing it these days.

When we were on holiday a couple of months ago I jumped in and pulled a child from the pool with no parents anywhere, there were quite a few kids running between the pool and waterpark with no parents to be seen!

Very irresponsible, wouldn't even leave my 8 year old unattended, never mind a 5 year old! Lazy parenting, expecting others to look out for their kids imo.

Absolutely agree with the above ^^^

Sorry I've not read the whole thread. The parents are in the wrong. You are right, but I'm sure they are taking advantage of you. Your kids are playing with them so they have decided to leave you to keep an eye on them. This happens to me and sometimes I have had to pull my kids away to play together or with someone else. Good idea to mention to pool manager. You are on holiday not their to babysit some stranger's kids.

I often swim in an outdoor pool. The number of times I've had to alert the lifeguard to little children trying to swim on their own is insane. Their parents are frequently sunbathing and have no idea when their children start wading into the shallow end.

That’s neglect. I have a 7 and 11 year old and we have a pool. They can swim together when we are around, but we don’t sit there watching them anymore. They are not allowed in the pool when no adults are around. I would never leave them alone and unwatched in a public pool/water park and 100% never in the ocean either. Too dangerous. I would definitely alert the lifeguards.

My friend was seriously sexually assaulted at our local pool as a child - she was about 10. She told no one at the time. Told our group of friends over 10 years later, when it was still causing her great trauma.

I have 8 year old twins and can’t go in the water ( well I can but have to be within my depth, very very careful and couldn’t do slides) I have just started letting my 2 do the inflatable session at the local pool while I sit on the side a watch ( not in swim wear) they can see me and ( most of the time ) I can see them, I wouldn’t dream of even nipping to the toilet let alone going off site. Both of them are competent swimmers and swim for the swimming club.

I don’t think this has got anything to do with you tbh - reporting it to the lifeguards etc is bizarre to me. It’s not great parenting but it’s not effecting you

Always astounds me how often the MN advice is “get involved entirely in a situation that has nothing to do with you/anyone in your family, including grassing up strangers to authority figures”

@CarlCarlson enlightened self interest is the reason I would get involved.

Would a young child drowning while I was at the pool spoil my holiday? Answer is a resounding yes.

So I would bring the lack of supervision to the attention of pool lifeguards/management.

It isn't 'grassing up' because I am neither 8 or an habitual criminal. I am simply an adult who doesn't want their holiday spoiled.

We’re not talking about a mother giving her baby a bottle of cola.

we are talking about young children in a potentially very dangerous situation.

@CarlCarlson

i would a lot of money on you not having any children and having had a difficult childhood. That would explain your view

I saw a family leave their little boy who looked about 4 or 5 in a playground at Butlin’s once whilst they ate and drank nearby - out of eyeshot however. When they went to find him, he had disappeared. Gave them a massive fright which was good really as they might think twice before doing it again. They did eventually find him hiding somewhere but the irresponsibility of some parents is shocking.

I'm normally the person on these threads arguing for children to have more independence but this is batshit. Even if you weren't at a water park a 5 and 8 year old should not be left for hours at a time!

I'm working towards my 8 year old being able to go swimming herself (allowed in pools here) but that would be for under an hour, in a familiar pool, without waves / flumes etc.