We have occasionally had this issue with caps, team shirts and goggles. We now get the caps with names on them, and goggles and shirts go in bags. I honestly think it was all accidental, and don’t really blame the kids. Where things get lost the most is when my kids leave something then they end up in the lost and found. Once there, at our pool at least, it’s all fair game. It doesn’t really bother me, and most people aim to get things with names back to the right kids.

Shows getting taken would be a huge surprise, and I’d be pretty mad. Are you sure you have the whole story?

Anonymous wrote:We've had adults gather up our pool toys and deny it until I showed them they had our name on them.

I’ve experienced that, too! And with towels- distinct ones from specific events that no other family in the area is likely to have.

How many towels or toys do they have at home that they “didn’t realize they weren’t ours”? We have like 3 little squid and rocket things we always bring and it’s really obvious to DH, me and our DCs that nothing else belongs to us.

My favorite was when a dad tried to tell me that my towel from a NJ women’s only triathlon circa 2010 was his family’s. Sir, I think it is highly unlikely that we both acquired a towel from this single-gender event and ended up as members of the same pool in Virginia more than a decade later and that you managed to sew my child’s camp name label onto it, but ok.

We've had adults gather up our pool toys and deny it until I showed them they had our name on them.

Wow, I’m so sorry, OP. This is really awful. We have been members of a private pool community in Silver Spring for the last 10 years and I have experienced anything like this. I would reach out to the pool board and ask them to communicate with members about this and if it keeps happening, find a solution for members to keep necessary items safe. Those posters who suggest you should have nothing of value with you at a private space you pay a lot of money to utilize are not based in reality.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe this is the New Yorker in me coming out but when I don't want things stolen, I lock them away or ask someone I trust to watch them for me.

This seems like a post one step away from asking people to remind their kids not to steal.

I lived in Manhattan and the boroughs for years and weirdly I found people so much more honest about stuff than in my fancy suburb of origin and my current town. In NYC people would chase me down if I left something behind and would work hard to get dropped paper money back to someone. I could walk away from a stroller on the playground or outside a restaurant and there was a level of trust that is totally different from where I live now, where I can’t even park a stroller without worrying that someone will walk off with it.m or go through it.

Anonymous wrote:My teens and their friends will sometimes leave their phones out on the tables and it drives me CRAZY. It’s usually during swim meets where they think they know and can trust everyone, but you just can’t.

FWIW op, a lot of pools are installing cameras if they haven’t already. You could ask them to review the tapes near the time the shoes were stolen.

Found out that our cameras only cover the area by the gates and the deep end, unfortunately. -OP

My teens and their friends will sometimes leave their phones out on the tables and it drives me CRAZY. It’s usually during swim meets where they think they know and can trust everyone, but you just can’t.

FWIW op, a lot of pools are installing cameras if they haven’t already. You could ask them to review the tapes near the time the shoes were stolen.

Anonymous wrote:I am in MD and have this happen too.

What kind of stuff was taken? Curious if it’s always one category of stuff or specific items.

I am in MD and have this happen too.

Maybe this is the New Yorker in me coming out but when I don't want things stolen, I lock them away or ask someone I trust to watch them for me.

This seems like a post one step away from asking people to remind their kids not to steal.

Anonymous wrote:Here it goes… don’t wear expensive stuff to the pool. She isn’t going to die or struggle if she walks to the pool with cheap flip flops or sneakers. Use the lockers that they have to lock up the stuff. Get a bag and have a lock on the bag. So many options.

We don’t have lockers at our pool annd I can’t think of pools we’ve swam against that do. Are they common outside of rec centers?

I wish the solution in comments was “you’re right, kids shouldn’t take stuff” instead of “show up at the pool with nothing but a swimsuit otherwise you deserve for your stuff to be taken.” It’s a strange attitude but maybe your kid is a thief.

Here it goes… don’t wear expensive stuff to the pool. She isn’t going to die or struggle if she walks to the pool with cheap flip flops or sneakers. Use the lockers that they have to lock up the stuff. Get a bag and have a lock on the bag. So many options.

Anonymous wrote:What pool is this; this doesn’t happen at our pool in Bethesda.
I’m a distrustful person so i don’t leave valuables out. Maybe don’t wear Birkenstocks to the pool.

NVSL. And see my comment above about why Birkenstocks at a pool.

What pool is this; this doesn’t happen at our pool in Bethesda.
I’m a distrustful person so i don’t leave valuables out. Maybe don’t wear Birkenstocks to the pool.

I know pools are pretty chaotic, but I’m so frustrated with having to be super vigilant about possessions at a private club.

Things walk away at our pool fairly regularly. It doesn’t help that it is a big pool that hosts early morning workouts for age group clubs and has hosted a ton of home meets this year. Most recently my DD’s Birkenstocks were taken while she was in the pool during practice. They were under her backpack so they wouldn’t get wet (yes, I know it was a mistake to not zip them inside, and she does, too, now) so someone was pretty deliberate about taking them.

I’m guessing that some kid lost their shoes and took my DD’s so they wouldn’t have to tell their parents theirs were lost.

We live in a pretty affluent area and it seems like a lot of kids are pretty loosey goosey about their stuff. We also had a thing with kids losing team shirts and then taking any shirts that weren’t on someone’s body to replace them. When confronted and shown the name on the tag of a stolen shirt, one kid just said they didn’t know it wasn’t theirs and the matter was dropped. I’ve had a sweatshirt taken off a chaise while I was swimming laps- it was one that lots of people ordered that season but it was also very clearly with my things and had my name on the tag.

Is there anything we can do as a pool community to change this culture? I didn’t grow up with much so losing things makes me absolutely bonkers, and the idea of kids taking stuff and not seeing it as a big deal really disgusts me.

For anyone asking why DD doesn’t just wear cheap flip flops- she does for the shower, but we walk to the pool and she has Sever’s so she has to wear shoes with more structure for that.