Pool needs work
By Staff
Michelle Blaylock, Mom's Corner
This is going to be an unusual column for me. I intend to vent just a bit. With the warmer days, my thoughts have been turning more and more to spring and summer. I love summer vacation with my kids home. I look forward to summer activities.
My kids love to spend time outdoors all summer even when it's incredibly hot. They love to play in the water. Preferably in a pool — a large pool. Usually we get a pool pass to the public pool here in Hartselle, but I'm not sure we will this year. I was very unhappy with the pool last year.
On several occasions we had trouble with junior high age boys picking on my younger girls especially in the deeper water. (By the way, all but my four year old swim like fish.)
The boys seemed to have a perverse pleasure in calling my 8, 10, and 12 year old girls filthy names. Although, the lifeguards did "sit" the boys out on occasion. The boys really didn't seem to see this as a problem.
One time my older son heard the boys call one of his sisters the "b" word just because she accidentally got in his way. My son took great offense at this and confronted the boy. The boy called my son a nasty word and my son smacked him. Now I'm the first to admit my son should not have done that. It wasn't the appropriate way to handle it. However, I was rather proud of him for standing up for his sisters.
Secondary to this problem, was the situation with the baby pool. I'm not sure of the exact problem, but it seemed to have something to do with the filtering.
I will have to give the lifeguards credit. They were diligent in cleaning out the bugs, leaves, and other debris, but my concern was the sanitation. If the water couldn't circulate enough to filter even the small bugs, how on earth was it filtering enough to keep the water clean?
Honestly, with the babies in that pool the water needs to be seriously filtered. Do you really think those swim diapers keep out all the bacteria in the pool?
What's to be done? Well, I seriously doubt anything will be done. I seriously doubt that the Hartselle Pool will care whether or not they get my $250 dollars this year. Although swimming is my children's favorite summer activity and we have for several years purchased family pool passes and have encouraged others to do so, I doubt I will this year.
We will probably visit the pool on occasion just out of desperation, but unless I see some serious changes I won't pay for a pool pass for my girls to be harassed by some filthy mouthed boys or to have to fight a dirty baby pool for my little guy.
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