Stupid Rule

Today Claire was kicked out of the pool at the YMCA.

We had gotten into a nice routine here in Spokane: I would take the kids to the Y, drop them off at the playroom while I ran on a treadmill. Then I would take them to either swimming lessons and then open swim, or just straight to open swim.

At our Y in Spokane, they have a separate pool that is for kids. It is only 1 foot deep. There is a play structure with a water slide in the middle of the kids pool. Again, for those in the know, know that Claire is addicted to the water. She feels so comfortable there. She loves pushing her body around the play structure, but never going on it. For some reason, she has no desire to go down the water slide!

Also, Claire has taken two swimming classes. Her first one, for ages 18 months-3 and with a parent, was WAY too easy for her. Her teacher told me to enroll her in the next level up: 3-5 years, without a parent in the water with them. She has taken one class at that level and we are signed up for another one. Her last instructor gave her a 10 in water confidence!

On to today. There they were, Levi and Claire, playing in the shallow kids area, perhaps 5 feet away from me, when a lifeguard came up and asked me how old Claire was. I responded, two and a half. That is when he told me that kids under four are not allowed in the shallow kids pool without an adult being in there with them. I was shocked. I was right there, there are three lifeguards watching the kids. There were five kids in the entire pool.

I asked the guard if he was serious. He was. I told him this was the first time I had heard this, and that we had been coming here for almost three months. He said he knew; that this was something they recently decided to crack down on. I explained that she has been through two levels of swimming classes, she is more comfortable in the water than a fish, that I am sitting RIGHT HERE, that I really did not want to put on a swimming suit just to sit in 5 inches of cold water. No luck. He would not budge. So I asked if I could just let her finish playing for today. Nope. He told me I had to take her out, or I had to get in.

So I took her out. She was mad, of course. They had only been playing for about 15 minutes. After I got the kids dressed, I filed a complaint with the front desk. The guy who took down my complaint was really understanding.

I told him, here are the rules as I understand them: it is okay for a two year old to take a swimming class on her own, without a parent, in water that is 6 feet deep. But it is not okay for that same two-year old to be in water less than 1 foot in depth with their parent sitting and watching. Totally lame.

I don't know what I will do now. Swimming was my bribe for Levi to go into the playroom. I cannot have Claire sit and watch Levi swim. I really don't want to don a suit everyday just to sit 5 inches closer to them then I previously was sitting. Seriously, do the lifeguards not think that if something was happening to my child, I would not rush in, no matter what I was wearing?Okay, maybe not in my new patent-red leather shoes. I would just let the lifeguards to their jobs if I happened to be wearing those one day. But any other time, I swear, I would wade up to my ankles to rescue Claire from the kid's pool.

Funny thing is, Claire is more comfortable in the water than I am. I still have to plug my nose and shut my eyes if I want to put my head under; which is something I rarely want to do!

The front-desk person told me that he would call me after he talked to the appropriate people. I am not getting my hopes up that things will change though. Stupid rule.