Unfiltered Story #210533

All pools have a policy in place that if a child is in a lifejacket, they need to have an adult within arms reach. This will sometimes cause a lot of hassle with parents, as they see the lifejacket as a magical device that will turn their kid into a swimmer and free them of their parenting responsibilites. While lifejackets help, kids can still get turned over and stuck, most often face down in the water. Furthermore, whats preventing the child from suddenly deciding to take their lifejacket off? Yes, I am scanning the pool, but I have 20+ other patrons to guard on top of your child ,and I am not a babysitter.

Since I have dealt with this more than once, I usually anticipate being yelled at when I have to enforce this rule. It’s a busy Saturday and we have two birthday parties in on top of a busy public swim. I am guarding the shallow end, when I look over and see a crowd of adults on the pool deck staring into the water. I scan and realize they are watching a very young child in a lifejacket, barely swimming on her own. I immediately rush over and mentally prepare myself.
Me: Excuse me, but someone has to be in the water with her.
Father: Why?
Me: Well, all children wearing lifejackets have to be within arms reach of an adult. What if she gets stuck and can’t swim back to the wall?
Father: …Okay.
He then proceeds to take off his shirt, revealing his shorts to be swim shorts, and jumps in the water and joins his daughter. Thank you sir for showing a decent level of understanding, but could you not have just gotten in the water earlier?