I’m baffled by these people with apparent rigid form fitting children’s bathing suits- where are you even buying them? My 5 year old is still obsessed with a 2T bathing suit that she’s had for years and will periodically insist on squeezing into it. It sounds like in this case the would be borrower is the smaller one, so worst case it would just be baggy. Having grown up in California with regular impromptu pool dates we regularly made do with borrowing bathing suits several sizes too big or too small….it’s not a fashion show. That being said I think it’s perfectly reasonable for the op to not want to take/pay for the friend…a poorly fitted bathing suit just seems a unnecessary additional excuse. |
OP is asking for advice as to whether it would be rude not to take the kid to the pool—meaning she doesn’t want to be rude! In what universe would you think it is OK to put a girl who isn’t your kid (around 9 by the ages OP later says her kids are) in a suit that’s way too big for her, meaning straps are falling down and the butt/crotch area can move aside and expose things that shouldn’t be exposed at the pool? I wouldn’t want my daughter’s 9yo body exposed at the pool, would you? I wouldn’t want to be responsible for another kid’s body to be exposed at the pool, would you? |
| You can tell a random kid who shows up that your kid is unable to play because you are eating now and then leaving. This is a non issue. |
Exactly. Don’t take her. And fyi it would have been fine for you to turn her away nicely at the door |
This. Instead of texting the mom asking if the girl had eaten lunch, I would have texted her that Larla was on her way home because you were getting ready to head to the pool. |
+1..the end. And OP said the child lives a good distance away and not in her neighborhood, so this wasn’t a neighborhood knock on the door from across the street. |
+1 |
I can tell a few people on here are in the habit of assuming other parents in the neighborhood (and apparently quite a distance away!) will watch your kid anytime you feel like sending them out of the house. If you have a parents’ contact info, use it. A kid running down to knock on a neighbor’s door and returning home if they’re not there/not available is one thing. Knowing a kid has a long bike ride ahead of them puts a little more pressure on the unexpected hosts. I wouldn’t turn a kid who had ridden a long way away unless I had to, but yeah, sometimes it’s inconvenient even if you ultimately decide to do it. I would never send a kid on a long bike ride back home without communicating to make sure his or her parents knew they were on the way. |
Plus 1 If the kid is old enough to come to your house alone, she is old enough to say "do you want lunch" or we are leaving at 2. Im not sure why this is such a big deal. |
| I would have just sent her home. |
The other mom was rude. She could have texted before her kid showed up. |
The kid probably enjoyed the bike ride. This is not a big deal. Just send her home when you’re headed out to the pool. |
I’m personally not at all concerned about a strap occasionally falling down for my 7-9 year old girls because they are wearing a slightly too big swimsuit…. But realistically this is only going to pose an issue for a spaghetti strap style suit. I have also never seen too much fabric in the crotch area resulting in unwanted exposure and am having trouble envisioning this even being a potential issue unless the suit is at least 4-5 sizes too big. For the majority of children’s one piece swimsuits, a suit two or even three sizes too big is just going to be a bit baggy/less form fitting, which is hardly something to worry about. I would of course always ask the other parent before taking their child swimming/lending a suit and would assume they were aware of the possible size discrepancy. Interesting though that in Europe it’s normal for girls up to ~10 to go topless in public pools, but in the dc area the idea of an 8 year old in a slightly ill fitting suit is scandalous. |
This. “Sorry, Larla, we’re busy right now. Have a great afternoon!” If she’s old enough to ride her bike over, she’s old enough to ride it home. |
| What’s the big deal? Some kid came over to ask if yours could play. If yes, say yes. If no, say no. |