Pool Time!

[MerriH807]

During our April Spring Break, we stayed at the AKL. We had a room at Jambo, but went over to the pool at Kidani Village. My children are 6 and 4. I was watching my 4 year old daughter. My husband was watching my 6 year old son. All of a sudden I saw my husband, but not my son! When I asked my husband where my son was, he said he was "around" and he would be fine. I needed to RELAX!! I found him in the water gun area. He was excited with the freedom his father gave him and was running amuck! I began following him with my daughter in tow.

I don't believe 6 is old enough to be "all over the place." My husband believes he is old enough and is fine. I think the slide entrance is behind where you can see and he can be snatched and easily brought to the parking lot right there. Same for the splash area....

How do you handle your kids at pool time? Any advice to help convince my husband of him still needing to be watched at 6---especially in a water area? Ugh!!

 

[marmalade]

At 6 I would never leave my kids unattended at the pool. The pool is not the place I want to start giving my kids freedom.

 

[mjkacmom]

At 6, we lost our kids a lot at Great Wolf Lodge. I finally just had to relax, knowing my kids were very strong swimmers, and just rush to the wave pool when the siren went off (ds8 is a madman in the wave pool, insists on the deep end, no tube). However, I'm more of a free-range parent, and when we belonged to a local pool club, my kids had the run of the place around the age of 4 (2 levels). Of course, there I knew most of the people there.

 

[nchulka]

I agree with your husband, no need to be "watching" them at a pool at 6. Relax, it's time to loosen the reigns a bit. I'm a mom with 2 kids 9 & 7, I'm not sure when the last time was that I was "watching" them at the pool, maybe 3-4ish??? I usually swim and catch glimpses of them from time to time. They swim, they make new friends, they gain self-confidence from the independence.

 

[nchulka]

I think the slide entrance is behind where you can see and he can be snatched and easily brought to the parking lot right there. Same for the splash area....

You are really going to need to get over the "if they are out of sight for a second they could be kidnapped" mentality. The truth is stranger abductions of children are so RARE, it is almost a statistical impossibility. Of the millions and millions of children in the US only about 115 are kidnapped annually by strangers. The rest that you hear about are teenage runaways and children taken by family members (custody disputes, which accounts for almost all stolen children). If you want your child to grow up to be a normal functioning member of society you have got to start giving him some space to explore the world on his own. And an nice safe enclosed pool with lifeguards at DisneyWorld (where no one has ever been kidnapped from) seems like the perfect place to me At 7 (and even at 6) my DS is riding his bike all over our neighborhood playing with friends. He is learning to be more responsible for himself and make good decisions on his own (things that cannot be learned with a parent over your shoulder telling you the right thing to do). Do I have a twinge of nervousness when he goes out to play and I tell him to be home in 2 hours, yes, do I get over it because it's for his own good, YES!!!

 

[sk!mom]

Can he swim? If the answer is yes, then I'm another vote with your DH.

My children were strong swimmers by age 6 so I was happily camped out on a lounger. They would check in every so often. I would see them as they played. This was true for our home Swim Club as well as vacation.

 

[alex9179]

Maybe it takes the right circumstances, a type of kid, type of parent, situation. I know that I would not let my 6 and 7 year old run around a resort without my being able to see them. Maybe it's because for the first two years they lived with us we were caring for someone else's children and that required uber-vigilence. Honestly, I still feel that duty to their first family but that doesn't mean I'm more concerned than any other mom. Maybe it's my new mom mentality and/or, knowing my kids, I can't trust them to stay in a certain area and to not get into a predicament. They play in the backyard everyday, and everyday I have some kind of injury to console or bandage Heaven only knows what they would find to climb up or into at a hotel!

I'm in the cautious camp. 6 seems too young to not "have eyes" on them in a place like that.

 

[disykat]

At six, I was still watching like a hawk. We don't have a pool or anyplace to swim regularly at home, so my kids WERE'NT strong swimmers. I'm not sure how I would have felt if they were, but I'm guessing I still would be vigilent.

Frankly, my kids are teens and I still worry they will drown. A 14 year old drowned last summer at a lake they go to on occasion. I'm almost 50, but have personally been close to 4 drownings or near drownings (either knew them or was present -2 were in hotel swimming pools) in my lifetime. Once you've had that experience, you don't forget it.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

OP I am with you. There is no way on earth I would leave my 6 year old unattended anywhere and especially a pool. I don't care how good of a swimmer they are it is still dangerous. I also want to say that as a parent it is annoying when people do not watch their kids. Kids are kids and yes, they all (including mine) sometimes do things that are a nuisance to others and/or dangerous. That is why parents need to be on top of things imo.

We have been on trips where my dh is playing with our kids catching them as they jump in. All of a sudden a few other kids get in line so they can be "caught" There were no parents at all. Now my dh is a great man and wonderful with the kids. Still- he is a stranger to these kids. Also, my dh wants to play with his own kids. Not entertain everyone else's. He wasn't going to be mean and tell the kids to go away and they are after all kids so they just think it is fun, but still, their parents should have had enough sense to tell them it wasn't some other parent's job to catch them. If the kids wanted to play like that their own parent should have gotten in the pool. So no- I don't think you are wrong at all.

 

[bellebud]

You are really going to need to get over the "if they are out of sight for a second they could be kidnapped" mentality. The truth is stranger abductions of children are so RARE, it is almost a statistical impossibility. Of the millions and millions of children in the US only about 115 are kidnapped annually by strangers. The rest that you hear about are teenage runaways and children taken by family members (custody disputes, which accounts for almost all stolen children). If you want your child to grow up to be a normal functioning member of society you have got to start giving him some space to explore the world on his own. And an nice safe enclosed pool with lifeguards at DisneyWorld (where no one has ever been kidnapped from) seems like the perfect place to me At 7 (and even at 6) my DS is riding his bike all over our neighborhood playing with friends. He is learning to be more responsible for himself and make good decisions on his own (things that cannot be learned with a parent over your shoulder telling you the right thing to do). Do I have a twinge of nervousness when he goes out to play and I tell him to be home in 2 hours, yes, do I get over it because it's for his own good, YES!!!

wait a minute... wasn't there a molestation 2 years ago (or so) at a WDW pool area? An older man molested a young girl I believe, right in the middle of the day, right in the middle of all the action. Another young boy (or the girls brother even????) saw this weirdo, alerted his dad, and they caught the guy.

ah, here's a little info one it...

Man accused of videotaping, molesting girl at Disney pool

The Associated Press

April 30, 2007, 5:10 PM EDT

A man accused of molesting a girl at a hotel pool on the Walt Disney World property and videotaping the act was being held today, police said.

William Bishop, 61, of Estero, was arrested Friday at the Walt Disney World Swan, which is on the popular park's property but not owned by it. Bishop has been charged with a felony count of lewd or lascivious acts to a minor.

According to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, guests at the hotel reported seeing Bishop take a young girl into the bushes of the pool area, touch her inappropriately and videotape it. Authorities said the victim was about 6 to 8 years old and said Bishop rubbed her genitals and exposed his own.

Bishop denied such action, according to the police.

Deputies said besides the handheld video camera Bishop was carrying, they found a small digital camera concealed under his shirt and held in place by a lanyard.

He was being held on $100,000 bond.


I personally have always HATED the way disney has set up their stairs for the slides. Many of them are around the corner, surrounded by bushes, (Universal is like this too, at least at the Hard Rock - where's there's actually paths leading to sidewalks and parking areas on the way up the slide stairs).

No, I personally wouldn't let my 6yo run around where I couldn't see him.

 

[amyngary]

My DH thinks I am paranoid about our kids, but I also wouldn't let my kids run free at any pool. Even my DD11 doesn't get to be out of our sight. She can swim, but since we only get around water a few times/year, she doesn't get enough practice. We don't have to be right next to her, but I want to be able to see all of them at all times. The exception is when they go up stairs for a slide, and then I wait rather impatiently for them to come down the slide.

 

[brightspark]

Don't know about the hotel pools, but the water parks definitely state that under 9's should be supervised by an adult at all times.

Also, good swimmer or not, a child can slip and injure himself around the water and get into trouble that way. I wouldn't want to be testing how closely the lifeguards are watching (although I'm sure they are amazing)

There is a difference between hovering over your child and supervising. I'm going with the cautious vote... I'd want my child in my line of sight at that age.

 

[bellebud]

I've posted about the lifeguards before... the ones at the hotel pools are not, in my opinion, very good. They sit a heck of a lot (you can really get tired just sitting in the hot sun)... honestly I think they should have to stand and walk a lot.

Someone corrected me that Disney lifeguards at the waterparks are great. I haven't been, so can't comment on that. Disney could take lessons from Great Wolf Lodge on the lifeguarding at the pools though.

I'd never leave my child's safety up to the pool lifeguards at WDW.

 

[hillview]

6 is not old enough to be unattended in a pool area IMO

I would let my kids run free in some other situations but not near the water.

Today I DID let my son (almost 6) sit on a pool chair OUT of the water while I took DS2 to the bathroom. He was excellent!

 

[nessz79]

Personally I don't let my kids out of sight yet at the pool. They are 8 and 6 years old, decent swimmers, but not so strong that I'd feel comfortable having them go off on their own, even with lifeguards. As of now I watch them from a chair, occasionally turning to talk to my DH, and then looking for them again (not a constant look, but I never look away for more than a minute or so). This is with competent lifeguards. Without lifeguards, I watch constantly.

 

[WantToGoNow]

I'm pretty lenient with my kids and do allow them some freedom - they play outside by themselves, ride their bikes in the street, go to friends houses down the street, use public restrooms, etc. However, at age 6 neither of them were good enough swimmers to let out of site at a pool. I wasn't worried about someone grabbing them or molesting them but more about them drowning. This is the first summer I've let dd7 go into pools deeper than 3' without a lifejacket.

We went to Great Wolf Lodge a few weeks ago and ds10 took a friend with him. I did let the boys go off on their own pretty much all day as long as they checked in with me (and the other mother was fine with this). My dd7 did "disappear" a few times from me and I can't say I wasn't uncomfortable until I found her. She really liked doing the lily pads where the water is 48" - she's only 51" so if she fell in, she couldn't reach with her nose/mouth above the water and she seems to panic in deep (for her) water.

 

[nchulka]

People keep saying things about leaving them unattended. I don't think the father did that at all. Unattended is being in your room and letting you kid go to the pool by themselves. I don't think anyone would let a 6 year old do that. But you also don't have to be with them the entire time like you would a toddler. If they can't swim give them perimeters to stay in.

 

[BLAZEY]

Most pools/ water park places have pool rules. I know our local pool, children must be within arms reach if 7yrs and under unless in a class with a certified instructor. Once 7yrs they must be able to swim one length of a 25m pool not to have to wear a life jacket if a parent is not with them in the water. Our pool has a deep end with a spring board and is 3m deep (10ft). These rule are in place for safety. Considering the ratio of life guards to pool patrons , and amid the chaos of pool play I would not feel comfortable letting my child 6yrs old be unsupervised (by me) at a resort pool. Local pool during lessons or club practice with a coach yes i would be ok with not watching her like a hawk. I was a competative swimmer growning up.

 

[nrpofp]

I don't leave my 6 and 8 year old unattended, but I don't swim with them or chase them around the pool. I relax in my lounger and let them swim and play on the beach. Kids need some freedom and trying to keep up with them would not be a vacation. The only resort I won't stay at is bc for that reason. I wan't my kids to be independent, but I also want to be able to see the whole pool. I think your dh is right on this one. You have to loose the reins a little bit at a time.

 

[chris31997]

1.What are the rules for the public pool
2.What is the capability of the child
3.Can you sit and see the child

In a way, you both are right. You need to relax and give your child some freedom. But you also need to be able to see your child and respond quickly.

DD is 14 and a strong swimmer. At 6, no problem as long as I could see her and she was in the shallow end. In the deep end, she was with a parent.

DS is 5 and not as strong of a swimmer as his sister. So the rules are a little differant for him.

We have also talked with them about stranger safety and what to do in a bad situation.