So fuming mad
We've just returned from the pool and I am so fuming mad.
To begin - at the begining. The apartment hotel that we stay in - has one main pool and one kids pool. Since there isint much space for sonny to burn off his excess energy - I take him to the pool every evening. A few weeks ago - he'd slipped and fallen in the pool at Riyadh. Since then he's been really scared of the waters (expectedly). But since we've gotten here, he seems to love the pool.
Usually there are a lot of kids playing in the pool. Since the kids pool has only 2 feet of water its really the tiniest of tots that play here. Which is good for me - coz sonny feels really threatened with the bigger kids.
This evening a family with 4 kids (good lord!!) got into the pool. Mom in abaya sat on the side and watched the maid help the kids into their swimming paraphernalia. I have not seen a more boisterous bunch than them - no really I havent. They whooped and screamed and dived ...into a 2 feet pool, hurting themselves and whooping some more. I know, I know, kids should enjoy themselves, as they please. But I am so mad - so bear with me.
All this banshee behaviour and sonny was clinging onto me like a creeper. With great difficulty I'd get him in the pool and the boys would begin jumping, splashing waster onto him and sonny would run like crazy and I'd get major heart attacks, expecting him to slip any moment. Something caught my eye and turned to look at the girl a lil closely. What do you know - she has a runny nose and the snot is running freely. She wipes it off with her hand...and...holy baloney washes her hand ...in the frickin pool. The same damn pool in which there are other kids swimming. Not once but thrice.
I didnt know what to do. Should I speak to her mom and remind her that we do wish to share her daughter's viruses? Or should I be really bitchy and tell her - that if kids are sick, they should not be with other kids. Or show her how to wipe her daughter's nose with a tissue.
Nevertheless, I hauled sonny out of the pool and took him home.Fuming all the way home.
I've cooled down a bit now, but I wonder. What is the PC behavior for this? Of course, I made all sorts of inane comments to hubby about 'paisa but no manners'.
Should it happen again - whats the best way to deal with it?
Edited to Add:
Looks like I am not the only mom to think of pool etiquette. CNN yesterday carried a news article about how 'responsible' parents should behave at the pool. Hygiene experts recommend asking your kids every half hour if they need to use the washroom (because kids can forget while playing). MOthers with kids in swim diapers should check their diapers regularly in case the child has had a bowel movement. Kids with illnesses should not use the general pool area (for fear of passing infections). No changing clothes in the open - even for the smallest of kids. And more.
Of course there were the usual parents (like me) who complained about others not maintaining hygiene at the pool. And the recommendation was the speak to the parent of the child concerned.
Labels: behaviors
