To think this is outrageously irresponsible parenting

[CaffeinatedMum]

On holiday in France at a Eurocamp park. Yesterday I was in the outdoor pool and noticed a little boy maybe around 18 months, certainly no older than a young 2, bobbing around by himself in a float vest. For context my six year old was out of his depth in all of this pool apart from the steps to get in, so it wasn’t a toddler type splash pool.

I watched him for a minute as he didn’t seem to have anyone with him and then both me and another lady went up to him to ask him where his mummy or daddy was, obviously he didn’t reply as was very young. Led him to the steps and his older sister came rushing up to him, I can’t imagine she was more than five (considerably smaller than my six year old).

Long story short, the parents were watching the kids from the bar nearby with their friends. This isn’t a pool bar and they weren’t in swimwear. it’s the other side of a gate and foot bath. So yes you can see the kids but you’re a fair distance away, not just on a lounger next to it,

They absolutely fell about with laughter when their son was helped out of the pool.

I genuinely can’t believe how irresponsible this parenting was… I am assuming I will get a unanimous YANBU but obviously there are parents out there who think this is not only ok but funny.

Now kicking myself for not saying anything to them about it but didn’t want to cause a scene, they were quite a big intimidating group standing their laughing their heads off.

Unbelievably irresponsible. Good job you were there.

It's awful, and you should have reported it. But I'm not surprised-lots of mums at softplays seem to get in fights and think it's funny when their kids fight. And at a waterpark in the UK, when a 4 year old got in trouble, the mum blamed the lifeguard.

That's neglectful.

Wouldn’t be laughing if the child drowned.

I’d tell the staff. I’d bet good money there’s a rule about children being adequately supervised and if you tell the staff they can keep an eye out and have a word if it is repeated.

There was a thread on here last week that a child’s head went under the water when they had a swim vest on. It would’ve been a different story if anything had happened to the child - it would probably have been everyone else’s fault. Utter morons.

You get these types of parents everywhere. I was away recently in a very busy theme park, there was a little girl who was about 3 clearly in distress, she appeared lost and was wandering about. Me and three other people stopped and went to get a staff member. Parents were sitting on a bench about 100 yards away laughing at her distress. They eventually got up and came over when it was clear several people were concerned about her. Of course if anything did happen it would be someone else’s fault,

Terrifying!

That's very shit parenting and I would definitely report it. I don't even leave my 12 year old in the pool alone!

God. The sheer neglect. And same for @REDB99‘s post, shocking and cruel. What the heck is wrong with some people

I’m on holiday just now.
Today by the pool a toddler, similar age, definitely younger than 2, was leaning over the pool trying to fill up a little cup. This was a deep pool where I can’t stand up, apart from the steps, very much like you describe. Toddler had no floats on or anything. No parents in sight. He was leaning so far over, he was almost in and could have fallen any second. Eventually a little girl, who was probably his sister, who was only about 3 herself, started screaming looking at him. She didn’t seem to be able to voice her concerns but looked on screaming as if to get attention. Dad eventually comes strolling from god knows where. followed by mum. Neither batted an eye. Sad that big sister, just a toddler herself, has had to learn what is unsafe parenting and can only scream on helplessly. I obviously stayed next to him but parents didn’t even notice.
A different family left their very young baby and toddler strapped in push chairs sleeping, in the blazing sun, while they went off, probably to the bar but who knows. The children were left strapped in at the pool side alone in the heat for a long long time. Parents gone and out of sight. No one checking on them, they could have overheated or anything. Other guests and staff intervened because parents eventually returned looking annoyed.
I could probably give many more examples. You see it all the time. It’s ridiculous.

Yep that’s awful, I just don’t understand some people

Thats not any form of parenting, that’s neglect.

No, but would be blaming someone else

I would have reported it to a member of staff at the time!

It’s appalling, but sadly not unusual.

My daughter was a lifeguard at a local public pool and I lost count of the amount of times she pulled a toddler out of deep water, and then waited for 10+ minutes announcing on the intercom before any parent even showed up. These slackers think just because there’s a lifeguard they don’t have to parent. Shouldn’t be allowed to have kids.

It’s neglect, pure and simple. Horrifying really because next time there may not be a responsible parent nearby and you can also bet that neglect is much broader than pool safety.

Yes that’s awful. So unsafe. Really you need to be constantly following around a child of that age around water of any depth.

I was waiting for my son to come out of the toilets at a busy motorway service station last year and a little girl of about 3 appeared on her own. I thought that she must have drifted out of the toilets and waited with her for a few minutes but no one was looking for her. I went to find a staff member but they were a bit useless too. The girl was old enough to chat randomly but not answer questions coherently. After what was at least 5 minutes but felt more like 10, she drifted off towards the restaurant, and found the table that her family were sitting at. They didn't have a clue that she was missing and just assumed that she was playing with other children.

If she'd drifted off out the back, there's a pond big enough to be hazardous. Out the front is a car park constantly heaving with traffic. If heaven forbid she had encountered a malicious person willing to take advantage, she could have been taken miles away before the alarm was raised.

As for swimming pools on holiday, the number of parents who can barely swim themselves letting young non-swimmers into deep water with dodgy floats/ floatation aids is alarming. And in busy pools, it's hard for lifeguards and other people to notice a child in distress as it's not what the public tends to think it looks like.

It's shockingly bad/dangerous parenting (and I'm quite a relaxed parent).
Children can drown very quickly and completely silently in just a few inches of water.

My son aged 5 fell into a pool in Morocco. I was with him and dived down and grabbed him straight away but the terrifying thing was that the pool was busy, two lifeguards and lots of people but only I noticed because I was specifically watching him. (He's an adult now and fit and well thank goodness.) Apparently it's more common for kids to drown in a pool with lifeguards than without because a lot of parents assume someone else is watching the kids so they don't need to.

That’s horrific. My 9 year old can swim perfectly well and I don’t like her being more than an arms length away from me in a pool

I definitely should have reported it, just didn’t think to at the time as was busy with my own kids and also to be honest the lifeguards there were terrible and probably wouldn’t have cared (which makes it even worse!)

There were loads of comments like this on the thread about the little boy coming up to the woman on holiday and I don’t get it at all. The staff are waiters or bar workers. They aren’t the police or social services or anyone with any more power than the OP to do anything about it.

no but if there was an accident there might be some liability for the site owners or bad publicity so it's in the site owners' interests to enforce supervision. campsites we've visited have done this.

I am not seeing where there is any liability for the site owners. It’s all a bit ‘tell the teacher’ isn’t it?