http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/toxic-public-pool-sends-kids-hospital-parents-want-212300789.html Thursday I took the kids to the pool...I see the lifeguards converge and talk about sth, then disperse....then I see them converge again after abt 30 mins, and then they get everyone out. Reason? There was feces in the pool. One guard goes in with a net, and fishes out the "pieces" in a net, and deposits them into a bag held by another. Gross! We went immediately home and I made them scrub themselves red! This yahoo article says to buy a pool test strip. Do any of you use it, and would it really be effective?
How about this related article? http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/swimming-pools-public-toilet-bowls-many-survey-193700688.html
Oh, my!!! The neighborhood pool we use to attend ask a daycare not to return, because everytime they came, a kid would poop in the pool, and the daycare wasn't doing anything about it!
they joys of a public pool. they check ours every hour it seems and thankfully due to our location it's not heavily used. most of the time we are the only ones there. last year we had a poo incident with an orphanage that came and one of the toddlers/preschoolers. they threw cleaned as much as they could and poured chemicals in and we had to wait an hour to go back in. after a hour they tested the pool to check the levels and it was safe to go back in. We are at the pool pretty much on a daily basis during the summer. i try to stay away from the main base pool because it has lots of children and the little kid pool is always overfilled with children both of age limit and over he age limit. I just try not to think about all the 'icks' of pools and all other public places. What I do miss are the sprinkler playgrounds. Those are fun. Our base in ME had on and there was a big one down in Jacksonville, FL.
Our community pool was being shut down for an hour at a time so frequently that a few years ago, they implemented mandatory rest periods every hour. So, every hour on the hour, they blow a whistle and everyone gets out for 10 minutes. This allows the pool to be inspected (although you don't really see a very intense scan) and more importantly gives kids 10 minutes where they can't be swimming so they may as well take a bathroom break. As far as I can tell, it has really helped. I don't use any test strips. Just shower when we get home. What always kills me is knowing that pee flows freely from those required swim diapers. Glad they hold in the poo, but still disgusting to think about.
I've never been to a pool that doesn't have madatory rest periods for under 18. I thought it was a law or something! It's also convenient for parents, as far as telling kids what time to leave. If you've got kids old enough to go on their own, they get playing and aren't aware of the time. But when the whistle blows for the 3:00 rest period, EVERYONE knows it. And if you've younger kids, it still makes an easy time to leave, because the kids have to get out of the water anyway.
The local pool here has a mandatory plastic pants rule for those who are 3 and under whether they are potty trained or not. They don't just allow the little swimmers diapers, you actually have to have plastic diaper covers over the little swimmers. If they see a kid without plastic pants on they are sent home. I have found that I really like the rule and it helps with kids accidents and so far I haven't seen any accidents.
Last summer, we were swimming in our pool. My then three year old son, Chip, got out of the pool, rushed out the gate, pulled his pants down and dowsed the bushes that surrounded the pool. I told him not to pee in the yard, but to use the basement bathroom. He became very indignant and told me, "But Mommy, you told Clancy (his sister) that this was the Pee On Me bush." I took a closer look and realized he had "watered" my peonies. LOL
pee on me bush!!!! Public swimming pools...ugh! I have to get over this, they start swimming lessons there next week!
LOL!!! That's great!!! My one hs'ing friend with nine kids always trained her kids by letting them run bare-butt in the yard the summer closest to their 2nd birthday. So Judah was "used" to watering the trees, etc. So one time they were at the pool. Judah just whipped it out and started going into the pool. The lifeguard sees him, and blows his whistle. Judah, being VERY young and not understanding, turns toward the lifeguard, and sprays on him!!! My friend was MORTIFIED!!!
Loriann, that is hilarious!!!!!!! When I was three I ALWAYS stayed with my Pa on his little farm and he had pussywillow trees everywhere. I always called them Pissy-Willows! LOL! I dont take our kids to the public pool for those reasons. Public bathrooms gross me out SO BAD, and to me the public pool is just a giant toilet. kids don't care enough to not get out and go pee in a toilet and come right back.
this is why we don't go....... not to mention the one close to us closed down for lack of funding.......... and don't even think about the "water park"......... its grosses out.
We do not use public pools for multiple reasons. Public pools are gross, even if the water is treated. I do not know how many times I have seen children tinkle outside of the pool, where people walk, because they assume people will not notice because they are already wet. I have come to the conclusion that anything public is gross. Some places or things are more disgusting than others.
And imagine the bath houses of long ago!!! My kids will actually get out of the pool and come ask me for a napkin to blow their noses! Forget about peeing in the pool, they wont even sniffle in there. How hard is it really to teach kids that something is gross and completely unacceptable!
Wow! I really need to call my sister and thank her again for having her pool built and giving us a key to the gate! I haven't been to a public pool in a long time and had forgotten how yucky they can be.
Two years ago when we were house hunting, we looked at one with a pool in the backyard. It was in disrepair, but not completely beyond help. I didn't want it at all. Think of the maintenance, and the dangers etc etc etc....And now if I could turn back the clock.. Ah, yes...be careful what you wish for...and what you don't
