Height restriction on pool slides !

robowen

My son wasn't allowed on the slide in the pool yesterday because he was 1 cm below the line :mad:

It makes no difference that he has been swimming since the age of two apparantly !

I asked the manager if he would let a non swimmer 1 cm above the line go on it an he said yes ! :eek:

I asked him to show a bit of common sense....rules are rules he said !

I challenged him over it and I said the line was a waste of time and has no bearing on the childs ability to swim or not.
He changed his stance and said it was there to make sure he didnt break his neck !!

So I asked him if he would let a blind non swimmer 1 cm above the line go on it....he said yes !! :eek:

I asked him if he could give me any evidence that proves someone 1 cm below the line could break their neck and someone above the line wouldn't. again it drew a blank !

I wanted to know what this line was for...is it just for insurance purposes ??
something to give guidance on ??
like I said it has no bearing on the childs ability to swim nor does it guarantee injury will not be inflicted......he didn't seem to know what it was for.

Only in this country do you get this.....I was furious ! :mad:

I tell you....If I ever met a health and safety bloke...I'll get my pointy stick out the van !! :mad:

And the height restrictions are different around this country too !, some are lower than others.
We've been on slides in different countries before with armbands on and nobody gives a toss !

Why over here ??

rob

Debt_Free_Chick

It's "our" fault. Society now seems to want compensation for all sorts of genuine accidents. As a result, leisure services in particular, have silly rules to minimise the risk of accidents and to ensure that they're covered by their insurance.

Our local boys football club now has £1m of liability insurance costing £600, which has to come from fund-raising. That money used to buy kit and fund a minibus to take the club to play other teams. All in case one of mummy's little darlings falls over and scratches his knee! :mad:

IvanOpinion

Sometimes we complain about a nanny-state on other occasions we pretend to be stupid so that we can make some kind of claim. How on earth did we manage to survive the growing up phase of life without all these silly rules and stickers all over the place? ... looking at the information forced upon us today I reckon that I should have been killed years ago!

The problem is that the manager has been given a rule for some reason (maybe somebody elses diddums thought the slide was to fast and mummykins complained), he has to enforce the rules as given to him ... yes, many are stupid but the manager is the one whose neck is on the line if something goes wrong. We reap what we sow!

Ivan


PS: Have you tried a nice fashionable pair of high-heeled flip-flops?

Nile

What a shame your son only missed the limit by 1cm. Next time he goes to this pool, can he make it earlier in the morning? We are all slightly taller in the morning, then during the day gravity takes it toll on our spine and we shrink in height a little.

Tell your son to stand up tall.....not to slouch. It might make all the difference.;)

Becles

We had a problem at our local swimming pool. My eldest can swim a length and wanted to practice building it up more. While my youngest was in a lesson in the little pool, my b/f and me took the eldest in the big pool. We are both strong swimmers and both passed lifesaving badges at school although they are not current now.

We were swimming either side of my son and encouraging him as he swam. When we got to the bottom of the pool the lifeguard was waiting and asked if he could swim 2 lengths straight off. I said no - that's what we were working on. I was told the rule is if you can't swim 2 lengths, you are not allowed past the middle of the pool and have to stay in the shallow end. I objected and explained we were both good swimmers, but they refused to let us swim lengths with our son

nickinoo

Becles wrote:

We had a problem at our local swimming pool. My eldest can swim a length and wanted to practice building it up more. While my youngest was in a lesson in the little pool, my b/f and me took the eldest in the big pool. We are both strong swimmers and both passed lifesaving badges at school although they are not current now.

We were swimming either side of my son and encouraging him as he swam. When we got to the bottom of the pool the lifeguard was waiting and asked if he could swim 2 lengths straight off. I said no - that's what we were working on. I was told the rule is if you can't swim 2 lengths, you are not allowed past the middle of the pool and have to stay in the shallow end. I objected and explained we were both good swimmers, but they refused to let us swim lengths with our son

How the hell will you ever know if you can swim 2 lengths if you are not allowed past the middle?

surfcat

The 2 lengths thing seems fair enough, ie, you can get to the deep end but you need to be able to swim back also.

Why not try and build up, say, 10 widths of the pool and then show the lifeguard?

Becles

It's rare that you can do widths at that pool. Usually 2 lanes are blocked off for lessons or as jog lanes.

Can understand the rule for unsupervised children, but it seemed harsh when there were 2 of us with him.

pug_in_a_bed

i used to work in a theme park which obviously ahs height restrictions for safety reasons, ie if you were too small teh harnesses wouldn't fit. Yet people still kicked up a terrible fuss; one man offered to hold his son in with his arm, depsite the fact said roller coaster went upside down. This rule i could understand. The pool one seems a bit weird though.

BigDunc

My local pool doesn't allow kids with armbands past the halfway point in the main pool. Go figure.

gravitytolls

Don't berate the manager, he may appear to be a jobsworth, but he could face disciplinary action were another pool user/staff member complain to the hierarchy that he flouts the rules.

It does seem daft, but I guess there needs to be a cut off point and it has to be somewhere. Loads of rules seem daft, but as soon as you start applying teh 'it's only' rule, you may as wel not bother with rules at all.

You could try giving him a spiky hairdo though, might make him a little taller.