Anonymous
07/10/2025 16:42
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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.
Odd you created a whole narrative about the theft.
OP and I can create a whole narrative about pretty much anything. Random theft would be way weirder than theft with a purpose.
But see above for my update- a kid did take them but not because they didn’t want to tell parents but rather because they didn’t want to miss a field trip. I wasn’t that far off.
I would just think they were taken as a mistake (parent picked up wrong shoes) or someone took them bc they wanted them. No long narrative or explanation made up
Anonymous
07/10/2025 16:31
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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.
Odd you created a whole narrative about the theft.
OP and I can create a whole narrative about pretty much anything. Random theft would be way weirder than theft with a purpose.
But see above for my update- a kid did take them but not because they didn’t want to tell parents but rather because they didn’t want to miss a field trip. I wasn’t that far off.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 16:23
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
Anonymous wrote: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.
Odd you created a whole narrative about the theft.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 16:03
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
Label everything
Anonymous
07/10/2025 15:59
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
Anonymous wrote:Our swim team thankfully doesn't seem to have a theft problem, but I frequently watch small children walk off with my kids' pool toys (taking them from main pool to baby pool or vice versa) and the parents never say a thing. My 3 year old has gotten good at nicely asking for her toys back this summer! We never have a lot out at once - most recently, it was 2 diving rings and a small beach ball - so it's pretty obvious who they belong to and that they're being used.
When it happens at the playground or pool and I overhear someone push back, too often the other parents will say in a purposefully loud voice to their kids things like “that little boy doesn’t like to share” or “the pool is for everyone!” As if just by being present at a pool or playground we’ve entered some sort of void where ownership no longer exists.
My favorite is when kids come up to my kid at the playground and try to take their food and the parents will say “it’s ok! They can have some” as if the only reason a person would hesitate to give away their meal was fear that the begging kid wasn’t allowed to eat.
Feed your own kids, bring your own toys, and please don’t shop the pool deck.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 15:26
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
Our swim team thankfully doesn't seem to have a theft problem, but I frequently watch small children walk off with my kids' pool toys (taking them from main pool to baby pool or vice versa) and the parents never say a thing. My 3 year old has gotten good at nicely asking for her toys back this summer! We never have a lot out at once - most recently, it was 2 diving rings and a small beach ball - so it's pretty obvious who they belong to and that they're being used.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 13:52
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
Anonymous wrote:We've had adults gather up our pool toys and deny it until I showed them they had our name on them.
This is the main problem at our pool. Not outright stealing, but a sense of entitlement that anything unsecured must be theirs or is free for the taking. Or if it's not in use, they should be able to use it. I've had a kid argue that she should be able to use our float because my daughter "isn't using it right now." We hadn't even staked out our lounge chairs yet. Rather than correcting this, adults then attempt to gaslight you into thinking this all encourages neighborhood fellowship. Mi mermaid goggles es su mermaid goggles.
I just accept that the neighborhood pool brings out uncouth behavior. Don't get me started on how parents discipline their children when there's industrially chlorinated water present. I understand why people spend so much money to put in a private pool.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 13:47
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
OP and at swim team pickup I got the sandals and part of the story.
Our club has a kids’ camp- members can sign up for a week at a time and the camp handles childcare plus gets kids to lessons and practice. Kids’ camp had a field trip but a girl showed up with no shoes and was told no field trip for her. Kid “found” her shoes and was allowed to go on the field trip.
One of DD’s friends figured out what happened after watching DD go through the lost & found yet again and got the shoes back. They were trashed and may have been worn in water and in the shower, unfortunately. I spoke with kids’ club and the manager asking if they knew who the kid was, and it was a kid who wasn’t even supposed to be at camp because they’re the grandchild of a member and that’s prohibited, so there’s a whole other thing that’s been brewing in the background (pool has a crazy waitlist so local adult children of members are always trying to sneak in sideways).
Anyway, the whole thing is long and convoluted but I’m relieved that I’ll never see the kid or meet her parents. The sandals aren’t wearable so DD and I talked it out and decided on a 50/50 split to buy new ones and she agreed that it was a lesson learned.
Our club has a kids’ camp- members can sign up for a week at a time and the camp handles childcare plus gets kids to lessons and practice. Kids’ camp had a field trip but a girl showed up with no shoes and was told no field trip for her. Kid “found” her shoes and was allowed to go on the field trip.
One of DD’s friends figured out what happened after watching DD go through the lost & found yet again and got the shoes back. They were trashed and may have been worn in water and in the shower, unfortunately. I spoke with kids’ club and the manager asking if they knew who the kid was, and it was a kid who wasn’t even supposed to be at camp because they’re the grandchild of a member and that’s prohibited, so there’s a whole other thing that’s been brewing in the background (pool has a crazy waitlist so local adult children of members are always trying to sneak in sideways).
Anyway, the whole thing is long and convoluted but I’m relieved that I’ll never see the kid or meet her parents. The sandals aren’t wearable so DD and I talked it out and decided on a 50/50 split to buy new ones and she agreed that it was a lesson learned.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 13:45
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
I had my jaw on the floor reading some of these! We're at a MD pool and I have never had any hesitation leaving our bag, towel, food, stuff out on table or chairs while swimming. It's always been there when we've come back.
My daughter did have a swim team hoodie go missing one year, but it didn't have her name on the tag, and I'm chalking that one up to an honest mistake.
My daughter did have a swim team hoodie go missing one year, but it didn't have her name on the tag, and I'm chalking that one up to an honest mistake.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 13:22
Subject: Re:Kids taking stuff at the pool
Suburban pool here, and definitely no theft problems. Mixup problems, sure, but things somehow have a way of making it back to their owners. It's a tight-knit community with a very small physical property and deck, and I think people feel committed to looking after one another.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 13:17
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
Anonymous wrote:We do not have this problem at Banneker Pool in DC. We leave a whole stroller full of stuff, toys, clothes, shoes, towels, even our phones, and stuff is usually littered about as well (we have three kids, it gets chaotic) and in five years of basically weekly pool use the whole season, we've never had anything be taken. And I've never heard of anyone else having something taken, too.
Same at our old pool in the city. Suburbs, different story.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 13:16
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
Our pool has a lot of grandparents and nannies who do childcare or drive older kids. They tend to just scoop up everything near where their charges are and leave. I can imagine a grandparent grabbing shoes they thought their kid had left and no one at the house realizing that they grabbed someone else’s until there were suddenly two pairs of Birkenstocks floating around their house. And at that point if the kid had been wearing both, which pair is the parent supposed to return and to whom/how? Not justifying it but I can see how busy parents would shrug it off.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 13:11
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
We do not have this problem at Banneker Pool in DC. We leave a whole stroller full of stuff, toys, clothes, shoes, towels, even our phones, and stuff is usually littered about as well (we have three kids, it gets chaotic) and in five years of basically weekly pool use the whole season, we've never had anything be taken. And I've never heard of anyone else having something taken, too.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 13:08
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
Anonymous wrote: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?
Our L&F is treated as a store and I’ve lobbied to have it moved to the office with zero luck.
Anonymous
07/10/2025 13:07
Subject: Kids taking stuff at the pool
Anonymous wrote: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?
Yeah, unfortunately I was there when the shoes went under the backpack and when they weren’t there after. I stepped away during practice because I had a team rep meeting. Her practice was in the middle of 2 other overlapping practice (think 10:30-11:30 but others were going from 10-11 and 11-12) so it was busy.
I am mad. I’ve checked L&F daily with no luck.