To ask 16yo to take his baby brother swimming? How strict are pools?

[Swimmin]

Hi everyone, baby is only 8 weeks so a while yet but just thinking of the future.

If someone were to take him swimming he needs supervised by a person 16+ how strict are they on that? Do they ask to see ID? Some under 16s look older than their age…

i have 16, 14, 10 and 5 year old also. younger 2 need me

would it be U to give money to my 16 to take him to the baby pool? but i’d say my 16 year old looks younger than his age

Yeah no I am in the same camp.
and also to say that a 16yo mother would have more of an instinct than a 16yo sibling.

Sorry but even at toddler this would be too much. You have a few kids yourself, you know how unpredictable they are.

WTAF

Why?

My 16 yr old DD is currently working at a pool right now as a lifeguard.

She's good enough to rescue the older ladies doing aqua, the kids in swimming lessons, the families in general swim or the adult lane swimming.

Why can't a 16 year old take a sibling swimming assuming they are competent themselves in water?

Wow! What a nasty nasty post. Such vile comments. OP didn’t deserve any of that at all.

What a vile thing to write.

Agreed. I'm actually gobsmacked

I think if you genuinely can’t see the issue with this then I’m seriously questioning your ability to safely parent.

It sounds like you’ve had more kids than you can appropriately parent.

He's a qualified big brother who will be in a pool supervised by a qualified lifeguard.

I’m not the poster who wrote that, but it’s 100% true and OP needs to hear it before she goes and does the same thing again.

Kids over 8 can swim without supervision in most pools. My local pool do £1 swim in the school holidays and it's packed.

No that wasn't.
Too many kids, very overwhelmed and stretched thin already, not enough quality time and attention for everyone already here, but intentionally brings another person into the dynamics. It wasn't fair to the other ones to disrupt and impact their lives like this.

A lot of people would question why themselves and perhaps siblings aren't good enough for their mother, and why their already struggling mother keeps having children.

The new kid is going to grow up lonely and perhaps isolated from the siblings .. especially the older ones.

We must take accountability and responsibilities for our own behaviors and in order to perhaps the betterment of our lives.

Learn and apply the knowledge.
When will enough be enough

My 16 year old is also a qualified swim teacher who people pay good money to, to teach their children to swim.

If you treat your 16 year old as a stand-in father to your other children, he'll be gone before you can say 'contraception'.

OP check the pool ratios.

Most allow over 8s without adult supervision, stay in shallow end etc etc. it's Swim England and H&S pool guidelines.

You could then supervise your younger two.

I see no issue with your 16 year old supervising the others either, assuming he's responsible and confident in water.

The more children gain confidence in water the quicker they learn to swim with is a life skills, not a hobby, IMO.

Please ignore the haters, they are gonna hate.

Statistically that risk is infinitesimal. Infant drownings in UK pools is vanishingly rare. The biggest risk would be travelling to the swimming pool.

It isn't nasty. What is wrong with holding op and others responsible for their actions and behaviors?

Op should have learned this lesson perhaps before children, (maybe the situation wasn't ideal to bring one into) ...
The more children, the more things get more difficult...for everyone involved...

Financial strains, relationship strains, lack of time, lack of individual attention, lack of resources, perhaps lack of proper spacing in house, lack of energy, lack of patience, etc ...

I feel sorry for the children.

I kind of feel sorry for op....but their lives didn't have to be like "this",'and op clearly hasn't learned the lessons....

Perhaps therapy would be beneficial.

It's probably not your fault that no one taught you to be kind, but I whole heartedly hope your children have someone better and available in their lives to teach them, as they clearly won't learn it from you.

Ok?

Just pointing out the opposite can be true too 👍

What was it?

This site is getting worse!

I’m quite surprised by such harsh replies to be honest.

My son was a qualified lifeguard at 16. I can’t really see why a responsible, sensible 16 year old couldn’t take a baby into a baby pool. The baby would likely be in a rubber dinghy or have armbands on.

Also those saying it’s farming out the younger child. Loads of older siblings do end up looking after younger ones occasionally. Usually with a bribe.

Wtf!!!!

why would you expect your older dc to look after the younger ones??
you had them please dont force them on their siblings

Best person to ask is probably the 16 yr old.
If you go ahead with the plan might be best to get one of those baby floats to make it a bit easier for your teen.

Better for all the children mentioned to be out and about getting some exercise and socialising than sat indoors missing life.

Stop making your children parent their siblings. Yes it’s unreasonable to expect a 16 year old to be responsible for a baby in water.

My 16 year old has never babysat his siblings and my middle teenager has never babysat the youngest.

Not all older children become free or paid for childcare.