Parental Guidance

I am not one that will routinely give out parental advice.  At least not anymore.  There was a time when I thought I ought to impart my well earned wisdom on others (what was I thinking???), but these days I try to keep my judgments, comments, and otherwise to myself.  I am currently of the thought that everyone has to find their own way, their own parenting style.  You need to figure out what works for you and your family.

However, the lack of parenting (of any style), has me ranting today.  We have been a little vacation this week where we stayed at a hotel with a pool.  I cannot believe the lack of supervision that occurs.  Cell phones have taken ignoring your kids to a whole new level.  Not only are there excessive amounts of children without supervision, the ones that have "supervision" are so preoccupied, their kids may as well be unsupervised.  Do parents not realize that this is a pool?  With water?  Where kids could drown?  Seriously, people, watch your kids!

Now, I try really hard not to let the teacher and lifeguard in me loose when I am on vacation.  That doesn't mean I wouldn't help someone (kid) in need, but I try really hard not to correct behavior.  I have zero authority, I am not their parent, and most kids and parents get really upset when you interfere.  But I cringe and have anxiety when I see what is clearly an accident waiting to happen.  I cannot understand why parents cannot see that there is eminent danger when kids randomly jump into a crowd of people in the pool, or that if their kid is standing in front of the waterslide, there is a really good chance they are going to get hit.  And with the amount of roughhousing going on, a kid could get shoved under the water and not be able to come up for air.  For kids, a pool can be very dangerous, especially in an unfamiliar pool with unfamiliar kids.

Now, Calah is a pretty good swimmer, but Gabe is not.  Calah can hold her own, but she is not old enough to really understand that even though she is swimming and trying to be safe, other kids are not and could run over her, jump on her, or something else that would prevent her from getting oxygen.  Gabe likes to push his limits, but is not confident that he could swim on his own.  I fear that someone will knock him off of his safe areas and he wouldn't be able to keep his head above water.  So we are there to ensure that those things don't happen.  Either right there in the water, or watching closely from the side of the pool so we could respond within seconds.  I am not paranoid, but I do want to walk out of the pool area with the same number of children I walked in with.  Preferably happy, healthy children that have not been traumatized.

And that doesn't even address the lack of manners and complete rudeness.  I try to overlook them and teach my kids that tossing things up the slide is not ok, throwing things across the pool so they land on other people is not ok, and running into other people repeatedly because you are not paying attention is not ok. Silver lining, I guess.

 So the pool is rough for me, which is ironic, because it is usually the place I feel the most at home.  But the kids had fun, so I guess it is worth it.