pet peeve down by the pool…

So Sara and I spent a little time unwinding down at the pool last night, which was nice because work and stress and more work these days have really taken a toll on the amount of pool time that we’ve been able to enjoy recently, but it also didn’t come without its taxes, either.

We got down there around 9 o’clock, so it wasn’t too late and there were actually other people still there (normally it’s much later than this, but it was a “school night”!). Anyways, the trouble began when we recognized the people as ones we’ve seen before – a couple of teenage girls and (presumably) their much younger brother. This kid can’t be much more than five or six, and at that you can probably already guess where I’m going with this one. Being the typical teenagers that they are, these girls want absolutely nothing to do with the kid and pretty much ignore him whenever they bring him to the pool, so he comes over and wants to “play” with us. Cute, because he’s a little kid, but totally not the time because we came down to relax and spend some time with each other, not babysit. So hoping that he’ll get the hint, we walk all the way back around the pool to the deep end and get in there.

Of course, it doesn’t phase him one bit. He’s young, and it’s not really his fault that he’s this curious.

Nonetheless, for the remainder of his stay he proceeds to bug the hell out of Sara and I, trying to hold conversations with whoever is closest to him, throwing rocks in the pool when nobody listens to him, etc, etc… At one point I told him not to throw rocks in the pool and that I was going to tell his parents, to which he gave me a really funny look. I mentioned that he really needs to go back by his sisters, who were now over in the hot tub completely unaware, but I got a really odd response out of him that left me wondering if a) his parents were the “not around, I don’t care”-type or even literally not around; or b) the girls he was with weren’t really as young as they looked and one of them was the kid’s Mom. Either way, I was getting pissed, and not at him.

If I were to make a top ten list of pet peeves, irresponsible parents would be right up there at the threshold, next to idiot drivers and idiot politicians (oxymoron?). I know it’s not simply limited to the current generation, but what makes these parents think that their kids can just run around doing whatever the hell that they want?! Just because they pay HOA dues doesn’t mean their kids have free reign of the place, too. It’s called community-living for a reason – try having a little respect for the rest of the people in the community. Not to mention the safety factors involved – the whole No one under 18 without a parent or guardian rule is posted for a reason. If that kid had fallen in when he was playing in the deep end and gotten into trouble, how long would it have been before his “sisters” had even noticed? Granted, I’d have probably done something if it happened while I was there, even though good samaritans get burned more and more these days, but what if it had happened while they were the only ones there? These people live right next to the pool, so no doubt he’s down there a lot – possibly even by himself sometimes.

Talk about a pain in the ass – it was disrespectful and unsafe to leave the kid unattended, it made me feel like kind of a jerk when I got to the point of just ignoring him, and it cut into what little time Sara and I had together for just relaxing. And all because Mom and/or Dad couldn’t get off their asses and come be parents. I don’t want to hear excuses about the sisters not doing their part to watch him – ultimately he’s still his parents’ responsibility and they should be aware of who they can and can’t trust to adequately supervise their child. I could go on and on, but I think you get my drift. Grrr…

…

Other than that, though, the water was great! Both of us came out rather prune-like, we each got to try out Sara’s new floating chair that she found on sale for $5 (a quarter of what it was when she wanted me to buy it for her two weeks ago!), and we did still have a rather good time just wading and talking. Good times, indeed.