Teenagers cursing at swimming pool around small children

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's a world that I just can't relate to at all. At our pool, they would immediately kick the kids out and call their parents. There was a group of kids using bad language at our pool.....not really cursing, just being crude a few weeks ago. And they were doing it in the shallow end where the little kids were playing. I asked them to stop. And they responded, "yes ma'am".

Sorry, but it's not acceptable behavior. By allowing it to continue, those of you living in the city are condoning it. It doesn't happen at our pool because we don't allow it.

Would you actually say something to an irrational mother who had just finished yelling to everyone at the pool "No more Mother f'n dunking!"? You are brave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a world that I just can't relate to at all. At our pool, they would immediately kick the kids out and call their parents. There was a group of kids using bad language at our pool.....not really cursing, just being crude a few weeks ago. And they were doing it in the shallow end where the little kids were playing. I asked them to stop. And they responded, "yes ma'am".

Sorry, but it's not acceptable behavior. By allowing it to continue, those of you living in the city are condoning it. It doesn't happen at our pool because we don't allow it.

Would you actually say something to an irrational mother who had just finished yelling to everyone at the pool "No more Mother f'n dunking!"? You are brave.

I'd be disgusted and leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? You can't control the whole world. Your kids will survive hearing some bad words.

I agree with PP.

And honestly, OP, as a teacher of teens (some very rough ones), FEW will listen unless you've built a rapport with them. They'll laugh in the face of a stranger telling them to clean up their language.

And your child will survive. Hell, I'm sure my own kids have heard language just as foul coming from me! Such is life!

Disagree. I don't curse in front of my kids. It is obnoxious and wrong. And I've never seen bad behavior at a pool, and been to many. Of course I live in the suburbs, thank God.

See? Nice suburban poster knows to keep away from the scary city pools. There are gangs there! And public drinking! Spooky old city! By the way, did you enjoy your Applebees tonight?

Applebee's was great! How was our evening? Did you enjoy hanging out with the gang, trash talking about your pretend conquests and having a bottle of crow on the bench with Jorge the whino?

and . . .

NOT the least bit racist at all

[Anonymous]

Would you actually say something to an irrational mother who had just finished yelling to everyone at the pool "No more Mother f'n dunking!"? You are brave.

No. But it would never happen at our pool. If by some weird chance it did, I would inform management. And I know our pool staff well enough to know that the women would not only be asked to leave, but the police would be called.

That was kind of my point. These thugs are allowed to behave that way because no one is willing to do anything about it. We live in a community where that kind of behavior just isn't tolerated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Would you actually say something to an irrational mother who had just finished yelling to everyone at the pool "No more Mother f'n dunking!"? You are brave.

No. But it would never happen at our pool. If by some weird chance it did, I would inform management. And I know our pool staff well enough to know that the women would not only be asked to leave, but the police would be called.

That was kind of my point. These thugs are allowed to behave that way because no one is willing to do anything about it. We live in a community where that kind of behavior just isn't tolerated.

call the police over cursing?

incredible

What a waste of taxpayers' money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Would you actually say something to an irrational mother who had just finished yelling to everyone at the pool "No more Mother f'n dunking!"? You are brave.

No. But it would never happen at our pool. If by some weird chance it did, I would inform management. And I know our pool staff well enough to know that the women would not only be asked to leave, but the police would be called.

That was kind of my point. These thugs are allowed to behave that way because no one is willing to do anything about it. We live in a community where that kind of behavior just isn't tolerated.

I agree. If the behavior is tolerated (and, sometimes, I find that it's even embraced) it will continue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? You can't control the whole world. Your kids will survive hearing some bad words.

I agree with PP.

And honestly, OP, as a teacher of teens (some very rough ones), FEW will listen unless you've built a rapport with them. They'll laugh in the face of a stranger telling them to clean up their language.

And your child will survive. Hell, I'm sure my own kids have heard language just as foul coming from me! Such is life!

Disagree. I don't curse in front of my kids. It is obnoxious and wrong. And I've never seen bad behavior at a pool, and been to many. Of course I live in the suburbs, thank God.

See? Nice suburban poster knows to keep away from the scary city pools. There are gangs there! And public drinking! Spooky old city! By the way, did you enjoy your Applebees tonight?

Applebee's was great! How was our evening? Did you enjoy hanging out with the gang, trash talking about your pretend conquests and having a bottle of crow on the bench with Jorge the whino?

and . . .

NOT the least bit racist at all

How is this racist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? You can't control the whole world. Your kids will survive hearing some bad words.

I agree with PP.

And honestly, OP, as a teacher of teens (some very rough ones), FEW will listen unless you've built a rapport with them. They'll laugh in the face of a stranger telling them to clean up their language.

And your child will survive. Hell, I'm sure my own kids have heard language just as foul coming from me! Such is life!

Disagree. I don't curse in front of my kids. It is obnoxious and wrong. And I've never seen bad behavior at a pool, and been to many. Of course I live in the suburbs, thank God.

See? Nice suburban poster knows to keep away from the scary city pools. There are gangs there! And public drinking! Spooky old city! By the way, did you enjoy your Applebees tonight?

Applebee's was great! How was our evening? Did you enjoy hanging out with the gang, trash talking about your pretend conquests and having a bottle of crow on the bench with Jorge the whino?

and . . .

NOT the least bit racist at all

How is this racist? [/quote

Why Jorge?

Why not George?

You just posted w/o thinking, right? So there's your answer.

[Anonymous]

I have dealt with this many times at DC pools and I may have even encountered the same teens.

Here is a suggested method that has always worked for me. It would be pointless to approach 20 teens with a request like that. It does not matter what kind of kids they are, ego kicks in and they do not want to look bad in front of the crew. What I have done is catch one of them individually or in a smaller group around the bathroom or the snack bar. I explain the situation to the smaller group. What happens most of the time is that they will be cool with it and they will take ownership of the issue when they return to the larger group. That way, the adult is not trying to dictate - it becomes a peer driven thing.

While people label these DC kids a "gang" and "thugs," I will point out the worst experience I had at a pool was a bunch of kids (mostly White) at a birthday party at the pool by Wheaton HS. The MOCO police actually came and got involved.

[Anonymous]

Which pools have snack bars?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old are your kids - I just say - hey you are going to hear words that you can't repeat. You can't save kids from everything they hear - but you can talk to them about how it is not okay.

The only time I said something - my son was 3 - the kids were saying the n-word - I just said hey dudes - I don't really mind myself but if my white 3 year old says that word everybody is going to think I taught it to him and that's going to look really bad. They laughed and said sorry - they stopped.

Can you approach them in a non threatening non judgemental way?

How Fucked up are YOU? " I don't really mind myself..."????? WTF. You make sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you should join a country club - no "gangs" of black teenagers to scare you poor white folk.

instead of defending the behavior, why not correct the problem?

Because that would require having to actually admit that there is a problem in the community. It's easier to ridicule us than do that. As someone who has lived on Capitol Hill for a while these teenagers are loud, rude, and violent. I would not approach them at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you should join a country club - no "gangs" of black teenagers to scare you poor white folk.

instead of defending the behavior, why not correct the problem?

Because that would require having to actually admit that there is a problem in the community. It's easier to ridicule us than do that. As someone who has lived on Capitol Hill for a while these teenagers are loud, rude, and violent. I would not approach them at all.

another reason why I choose to live in the suburbs. less chance of negative influences.

[Anonymous]

So if you're in the District, it's either the country club pool (should you have the bucks) or some public pool where some mouthy kids can hang out?

Those are your choices?

the two extremes?

The burbs offer a better blend. Our pool is fairly diverse, and the kids are respectful. Furthermore, it's a neighborhood pool. So they attend the same high schools - as there are 2 close by.

And to those who think they can approach some of these kids, some may indeed be in gangs. And if you piss one off, you piss off all of them. It's easier to reach them on an individual level - in school preferably - where you can build rapport with them on a daily basis.

but to approach them in an attempt to teach them something about manners? laughable! and dangerous at times - depending upon their ages

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have dealt with this many times at DC pools and I may have even encountered the same teens.

Here is a suggested method that has always worked for me. It would be pointless to approach 20 teens with a request like that. It does not matter what kind of kids they are, ego kicks in and they do not want to look bad in front of the crew. What I have done is catch one of them individually or in a smaller group around the bathroom or the snack bar. I explain the situation to the smaller group. What happens most of the time is that they will be cool with it and they will take ownership of the issue when they return to the larger group. That way, the adult is not trying to dictate - it becomes a peer driven thing.

While people label these DC kids a "gang" and "thugs," I will point out the worst experience I had at a pool was a bunch of kids (mostly White) at a birthday party at the pool by Wheaton HS. The MOCO police actually came and got involved.

this is a pretty brilliant teen-friendly strategy