Anonymous wrote:Twice now, I have, when kids were tormenting either my child or other very small kids with squirt guns or cannons. On one occasion I took a squirt gun and threw it over the baby pool fence. On another occasion I hollered STOP IT RIGHT NOW. The kid looked at me in a daze and then ran to his mother on the other side of the pool park. He then came back about ten minutes later and apologized to me. I assume after he told his mother what happened she took my side.

I think this is too much. Great modeling of how to be a bully.

Yes I did when a child was throwing a golf ball in the pool and threw it out and it hit me. I looked around before to see if the child would apologize or the patents would intervene and nothing. So I told the kid what he did was dangerous and would not give the ball back. That's when the lovely parents both chimed in and told me how rude I was. Yeah they saw nothing wrong and said their son was only "having fun". Lovely right?

I would say something in a heartbeat, especially when the child being targeted is younger and smaller. I wouldnt yell at them, but I would give them that look that says "...hey asshole, I'm going to kick your ass if you don't stop..."
they usually stop. kids want to know their boundries, even the rowdy ones.

The life guards at our pool are idiots. If I am trying to swim laps in the designated lap lane, I have to swim around any number of kids who are playing catch with someone else outside the lap lane. Kids hand on the rope dividers and hang on the lap lane divider. The boards will be closed and some moron kid will get up on the board and jump off into a deep end full of swimmers and only then will the life guard say that the boards are closed. And yes we have hoards of kids running around with those foam squirters. So, yes, I discipline other people's children often if it impacts me or my child, I tell whomever to cut out the offending behavior.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Twice now, I have, when kids were tormenting either my child or other very small kids with squirt guns or cannons. On one occasion I took a squirt gun and threw it over the baby pool fence. On another occasion I hollered STOP IT RIGHT NOW. The kid looked at me in a daze and then ran to his mother on the other side of the pool park. He then came back about ten minutes later and apologized to me. I assume after he told his mother what happened she took my side.

LOVE YOU.

and LOVE that other mother, too!

Only if I think it's a safety issue for my kid / other kids.

At our pool "community parenting" is well-known and, in fact, expected. If adults are seen ignoring misbehaving kids who are near them then they get the stink-eye. Kind of like, "Why aren't you holding up your end of the deal and letting them get away with that?" The kids are pretty feral at our pool and it wouldn't be do-able unless everyone was on-board.

Anonymous wrote:Twice now, I have, when kids were tormenting either my child or other very small kids with squirt guns or cannons. On one occasion I took a squirt gun and threw it over the baby pool fence. On another occasion I hollered STOP IT RIGHT NOW. The kid looked at me in a daze and then ran to his mother on the other side of the pool park. He then came back about ten minutes later and apologized to me. I assume after he told his mother what happened she took my side.

LOVE YOU.

Twice now, I have, when kids were tormenting either my child or other very small kids with squirt guns or cannons. On one occasion I took a squirt gun and threw it over the baby pool fence. On another occasion I hollered STOP IT RIGHT NOW. The kid looked at me in a daze and then ran to his mother on the other side of the pool park. He then came back about ten minutes later and apologized to me. I assume after he told his mother what happened she took my side.

I give victims time to respond. They can often handle it themselves. If not I then suggest they come play with my son to remove them from the situation. if that doesn't fit the situation, l ask the perpetrator to stop.

The lifeguards should be stopping the water gun stuff, although I know they don't. But most of what I see is verbal bullying.

there are some rowdy boys in the baby pool at tuckahoe who i always want to say something to, but don't. the dad is just as bad as them. he never seems to care that they are off squirting toddlers in the face or taking their toys. in fact, on more than one occassion i have seen the dad rough housing in the fricking infant pool, splashing around like an imbecile, using our squirters that we brought ourselves. the most i've ever said is when the boys tried to take my toddler's squirter from her, i said "those are actually ours, and she is using it, thanks." i wanted to give them a bigger piece of my mind, but never have the courage to do this to others' kids...

If my little guy doesn't like what they're doing, I've asked them to please stop squirting my kid as he doesn't like it. I usually tell them *over there* doesn't have little guys around so they'd be free to play like big kids without having to worry about the little kids.

Well, when you say discipline, it makes me think of a parent telling someone else's kid to leave the pool and go sit down in time out, which is not what I do. But if I saw a bigger kid squirting a toddler in the face or doing something that warranted a parent telling them to knock it off and their parent was nowhere to be seen, sure, I'd say something. "Hey, don't do that." I'm not going to put any consequences on anyone else's kid, but I don't mind telling a kid not to do something they do not need to be doing. If a parent later came up to me and said something I'd just tell them if they had been watching their kid, I wouldn't have had to.

If their behavior is directly affecting my kid, then absolutely. If the behavior is dangerous, but not directly affcting me/my kid, I'd say something to the lifeguard.

When you see a kid misbehaving in the pool and mommy and/or daddy are too busy reading/gossiping/texting to control their own kid, do you say something? (And by misbehaving I mean squirting 2 year-olds in the face with those dumb, foam water guns, splashing toddlers, dunking your kid, etc.)

If so, what do you say and have you ever gotten a response from the kid's parent(s)?