Child at the gym

[CosyScentedCandles]

I go to a local leisure centre gym 4-5 times a week. Because it is only a leisure centre, I accept that it has to be available to meet a range of needs and part of that is that they allow kids from 15 to use the gym at specific times. This doesn’t bother me, I generally avoid the teen-gym slots and if I don’t it is usually one harmless 16 year old girl using a cross trainer.

What is really winding me up is that there is a woman who seems to regularly sneak her 10-11yo in with her so that she can work out. She plonks him on a machine or a bench and he proceeds too much about with the equipment, preventing somebody else from using it properly. Apart from the fact he his taking up room in what is a small gym, AIBU to think that some places are simply not appropriate for children and to want some time in an adults only space?

I feel like I want to complain but I don’t know 🤷🏼‍♀️

@kisaki333 its a gym not a childcare provider. Plenty of us haven’t had childcare for the gym. I didn’t use one until my kids were old enough that I could leave them at home. It’s not anyone elses responsibility to be mindful of a child that shouldn’t be there. If there’s an accident who gets the blame? People pay to go and shouldn’t have to avoid areas while they are there.

You know, all this rage against the poor mum and 10 year old... all this dissecting of what's rights and who's to blame if something happens etc etc... why don't you lot apply the same logic and high standards to the ones in charge of this country? While the mum had her 10 year old illicitly at the gym, the tory party siphoned litteral billions to their mates via covid. If the mum deserves a 250+ posts thread, where's the 1000000+ thread about the horrible state of affairs in this country??

You're all so brave when picking on the defensless or when you can hide behind some arbitrary rule. By proportional logic, if a small child's presence bothers you soooo much, why are you not out in the streets shouting your lungs out that you are being robbed of your livelihood by those in charge????

Cos it doesn't work like that.
But thank you for your insight.

Pure whataboutery with no relevance to this situation at all.

Go and start a thread in politics instead of highjacking this one.

@kisaki333 post is going a bit far (and I actually disagree with the premise - if you remember we were panicking about PPE and ventilators and wanted them by any means necessary, I don't give a flying fig if a few bureaucratic corners were cut) but the overall message, there is lots of crap going on, a kid sat on a bench in a gym isn't worth the headspace.

If the kid isn't being a pain, don't be a grass.

If the kid isn't being a pain, don't be a grass.

Anyone who uses the term about someone being a grass needs to grow massively.

I would suggest anyone who thinks you should run off to tell the staff every time someone breaks a rule is childish. We should be proportionate in this situation. If the kid isn't being a pain and you don't need the bench they are sat on, just move on. There are examples of rule breaking everywhere. Do we run to HMRC every time we pay a tradesman in cash, or tell the security guard in Tesco that someone ate a grape on the way round?

Don't be a grass @Everanewbie , are you 6 ?
Grow up

The kid is being a pain though, playing around on the machines. OP also signed up to the gym with the expectation that it’s adults only, so she’s absolutely got cause to complain that someone is bringing a kid in.

That’s without even factoring in the danger posed to the kid from the machines he’s playing on.

Ok, you're right. I'll rephrase. OP, please don't be that person that reports every slight infraction of little or no consequence to you out of nothing other than spite.

lmfao, yes of course OP, don’t be the person that expects to get the adults only environment you paid for.

What's spiteful about it @Everanewbie ? they shouldn't be in there
It's clear cut

That’s without even factoring in the danger posed to the kid from the machines he’s playing on.

Not that that's the OP's concern but there is such an easy solution here - to tell the staff and let them deal with it as they see fit.

Oh, and reporting is not spiteful, it’s sensible.

Those machines are not toys. They can cause serious injury if used incorrectly. By all means YouTube ‘gym machine injuries’ if you want to see such delights as someone’s legs bent at a 90 degrees from the knees in the wrong direction.

A kid playing on them is putting himself at risk, as well as anyone using the machine after him. He could also break the machines, putting them out of service for anyone who does want to seriously use them.

OP should not hesitate in reporting him (if she hasn’t done so already). I have reported the same before and the gym staff dealt with it quickly, as they should here.

Tbf OP is justified in being annoyed solely at the fact that there’s a child in an adults only gym.

The mentioning the risk factor is in reply to those posters that seem to think that what the kid is doing is harmless and it’s mean to report him.

If the child was sitting on the side playing with a phone quietly I doubt the op would have noticed him. He is mucking about impacting the use of equipment from people who have paid to use it.

i'd report her. her childcare is not your problem. you pay for a child-free gym.
i have 4 kids. there are places i bring them and places i don't, because it'd be rude to.
as for gyms that allow small kids to hang out: perhaps they've found a niche market. but i have kids and i wouldn't be keen on joining.