Anonymous wrote:You will be held liable for injuries or drownings on your property, OP.
You need a fence pronto and you need to tell these idiot parents to tell their kids never to go into the pool without adult consent. I would have yelled at them if I had found them in my pool, I can tell you that.
Apart from that, I treat the neighbor kids like my kids: I tell them the rules and send them home (my kids to time out) if they don’t comply. I am direct. And if it’s not a good time, which it often isn’t, I turn them away nicely at the door.
All of this. See the other thread about a parent who wants to get a trampoline in her unfenced yard. Read about liability, insurance cancellations and the legal concept of attractive nuisances. Your pool is the same thing -- it should be fenced already (you're likely violating your local regulations without knowing it -- even the inflatable above-ground pools are subject to fencing regulations in many areas including Northern VA for example. It's not just permanent in-ground pools that must be fenced, in many places).
Otherwise, although the neighbors and their kids are the ones who are being a problem, and I agree that they are -- YOU will be the one the lawyers and police talk to if something happens on your property.
And PP is right: You need to have a face to face talk with the parents about the pool and say the kids have to come to the front door and see and talk to you for permission before they go into the back yard. Ever. Explain that your own kids have some summer activities going on ("activities" can mean in your head "they're doing stuff in the house right now and don't want to play") so your kids enjoy some play time with the neighbors but won't always be available. Hence the need for the neighbor kids to ASK every single time.
This is likely to continue even after the pandemic stay-home time drops away, and even after you drain your pool. I'd get a fence because come fall and winter, theyll probably still come into your yard to play even without the pool there.