Hi all,
I am the president of my team, and we recently instituted a policy after having an increasing number of parents bringing children along to workout. (Usually in the case of both parents being swimmers, and one swims while the other watches the child, and then they switch off for the next workout.) We found a need to institute a policy after seeing a wide range of what parents considered to be acceptable behavior, and to be an acceptable level of supervision.
I am wondering if any of you would be willing to share any info about this subject at your team. I am wondering:
- Are members at your team allowed to bring children with them to workouts?
- Does your team have a written policy about this subject (for example, child must have an adult supervising them, child cannot be within a certain distance of the pool, etc.)? If so, can you share the wording of that policy?
Thanks for any info!
At the pool that I swam at and work out, we had a similar problem. At one point a few years ago, there were as many as eight women bringing their children to Masters practice where they expected the coach to watch the children. All of these children were young and so were strapped into baby carriers, but the poor coach would be stressed trying to calm crying babies. Other mothers were bringing playpens for the children to play in, but this entire situation was not a good situation. There were lap swimmers that would leave their children in baby carriers at the end of the lane while they swam. Finally, the pool directors passed a rule that unattended children were not allowed to be on deck. As a coach myself, I am greatful for this rule. As a coach and a lifeguard, I should not be responsible for unattended children on the deck. As a coach, I want to put my energies into providing a good workout and helping with technique, not babysitting. Children should not be brought to workouts.
The mothers on the team have developed strategies for dealing with this new rule. One mother will watch the children for the practice and then the other mother will watch the children while the first mother does the workout. Their is a daycare nearby that has reasonable rates for an hour or two of daycare. Some mothers have formed groups so two of the mothers will swim Mon., Wed, and Fri and babysit the other children on the other days so that the other mothers can swim Tues, Thurs, Sat.
Young unsupervised children should never be on deck. Something tragic could happen in a careless moment. Imagine a worst case situation on the 6:00 news. The parent could be held negligent. Children can be a distraction for the parent, the swimmers, and the coach.
The parent needs to arrange proper childcare for their children.
ande
Originally posted by Rob Copeland
You’re right it does sound harsh. Currently my club works out at a public pool. We get 4 lanes of the 8 lane competition pool, the other 4 lanes are open for public swimming and a second play pool is also open to the general public. At any given time, during our Masters workout, there may be 100 or more kids on the deck and in the other lanes/pool. Might this be a circumstance where children are allowed to simply stand around a pool deck?
Rob, I stand by my statement. If kids are standing aroud not in the desiganted area where they can be, they are a distraction. I forgot to write this in my first statement because it really upsets me. Once a girl was playing with kickboards owned by the team I wa practicing with. the lifeguards for the other parts of the pool whicha at the time where open t he public thought that the little girl was with the team. She wan't. The kickboard popped out fromunderneath her bottom, she wa sitting on it, and broke her wind pipe. the lifeguards thought that the gfirl was with us becasue so many on the team brought their children and some fool on the team told the lifeguards that we would be responsible for our own children.
2 stories. Pool decks aren't for unsupervised kids.
1 - Mom & dad are Masters swimmers. Their 2 little girls are on the age group swim team. While mom & dad swim, the girls hang around on deck; their group didn't have practice at the same time. The girls got bored and either hang around the other coaches and distract them, or do something dangerous (eg: hanging upside down swinging from the dip bars over the concrete deck). The pool is only used for club practice, no lifeguards. It isn't fair to the other swimmers for the coaches to be babysitting.
2 - Mom left her 2-year-old twins in a stroller on the deck while she was socializing. Another small child (4 ? 6? ) pushed the stroller in the deep end, watched it sink. Head coach raced across the pool deck and dove in, but the stroller was too heavy to swim up. The twins were strapped in tight. Coach pushed the stroller up the bottom incline to shallower water; another adult grabbed the handle. Happily, when the twins got above water they did a huge gasp for air (had been holding their breath) and thought it had been a game. The child that pushed them in had no idea what he was doing. :eek:
