birthday vent

On Jul 1, 11:17?pm, toypup wrote:
On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 20:05:35 -0700, Vickie wrote:
My kids tend to stick like glue for awhile when we enter someone's
home they are not used to.

Also, I do not ever think I have been to a party where there wasn't at
least 2 or more adults hovering around the bouncy house, or what have
you, enjoying watching the kids. That seems just strange to me that
no one at all was out there. Especially with kids that young!

Yes, I agree the tarp thing is very dangerous. I would not have left
my daughters side.

Vickie

There were adults out there, but the view of the hot tub from the seating
area was obstructed by the bounce house. They were not specifically
assigned to the hot tub, as far as I could tell. They were wathcing their
own children. When I was there, I was watching DD. If another child fell
in, I might not notice.

I was part of a playgroup once. We were near a shallow pond. One child
fell in quietly and nearly drowned. There were a bunch of us standing
there so we felt rather safe and no one noticed he had fallen in. I saw
something in the water that looked like a floating doll and he was lucky I
noticed him, because no one else did. Just a few more minutes and he would
have had brain damage or died. That's how quietly and quickly things
happen, even with an entire group of adults nearby.

Yup. We just spent the night at a water park/hotel place this last
Thursday. Right behind the lifeguard assigned to the lazy river area
was a 4 or 5 year old child hanging on for dear life to the edge of
the wall in that heavily flowing river with one hand up hollering and
not a single person other than me saw him. You couldn't hear him
either since it was so loud in there. I could just see the look on his
face. I ran straight over and pulled him out.

Chris wrote:

I can't tell you how many mothers were annoyed that I would not leave
when they invited my children to swim in their backyard 10-foot deep
pools. lol. I didn't care that they were right there either. I can't
shake the fact that the other children with the pool are way more
comfortable and experienced at swimming than my children are, or were
since they now know how to swim. I wasn't sure if my kids would try to
shirk their lifevests and dive into the deepend off of the diving
board just because their friends could. I needed to explain to them,
or at least someone did and I wasn't sure those mothers knew they
would need to, how to go straight to the bottom when jumping in and
how to push off to get back up to air. I was worried sick that they
would jump in and not realize how far down they'd gone and yet not
touch the bottom and then panic. I almost drowned in a friend's pool
because I was walking along the pool only to hit that severe slant
some have. I couldn't get back up it and instead of swimming, which I
could do, I panicked and each time I jumped, which was a pathetic jump
because I kept sliding deeper down that slant, I could see all of the
adults around the pool and nobody even looking in my direction.

Different people would react differently to that but your concern is
certainly warranted. One of the things that the Red Cross does in
beginner swimming classes is teach how to turn in the water, how to
turn over, how to come up to the top and float etc. as a part of water
safety.

I was in a swimming class at the Y when I was about 7, and the
instructors wanted to assess our proficiency in order to assign us to
classes. So they told us to walk down along the edge of the pool as
far as we thought we could swim, jump in and swim to the shallow end.
I couldn't swim, but apparently I thought I could, so I walked about
3/4ths of the way down the pool and jumped in and sank. They had to
fish me out with a shepherd's crook. But I didn't panic- I just
couldn't swim. I don't remember this with any angst at all.

I have seen beginner classes where the children are required to jump
off the diving board as the first thing in every class before they are
taught to swim. This was supposed to 'break their fear of the
water'. I thought this was perfectly terrible, but some of the kids
loved it (apparently had no fear of the water) and went on do the
swimming lessons - no trauma for them. And other kids were so scared
that they threw up before each class.

My dd#1 was quite cautious in the water - she would go in and would
swim, but she didn't really care for it. DD#2 would jump in at the
slightest provocation, and she would be one who would remove a life
vest and go in without it to see if she could. I saw a kid do that at
a motel once and the dad jumped in after her fully dressed.

cjra wrote:

On Jul 1, 10:17 pm, toypup wrote:

I was part of a playgroup once. We were near a shallow pond. One child
fell in quietly and nearly drowned. There were a bunch of us standing
there so we felt rather safe and no one noticed he had fallen in. I saw
something in the water that looked like a floating doll and he was lucky I
noticed him, because no one else did. Just a few more minutes and he would
have had brain damage or died. That's how quietly and quickly things
happen, even with an entire group of adults nearby.

If there is a group of humans that are interacting with each other,
they are not really watching. This is true whether the humans are
male/female, adult/children whatever.

This happened in our house once, only someone was assigned to watch
and jumped in and got the kid immediately. However that is why my
parents were such sticklers about it - every party, the adults would
stand around and the kids would run in the pool. The adults felt they
were 'watching' because they were all within a few feet of the pool,
but they weren't paying attention. Hence our rule that we always had a
designated life guard (or two or three depending on how many kids) at
all times.

This happened to me once at the beach. Shallow water with no waves
and I was about 2 years old - I was sitting in the water playing.
Apparently I fell over, or put my face into the water to see something
and didn't realize that I couldn't breathe under water. I could
easily have lifted up my head, but I didn't. Mom was watching me
though, so she pulled me out in time.

It can happen *so* fast. Even at home we don't leave DD unattended in
the tub. One of us always sits right next to her and watches. The
other day she fell back and was totally submerged - DH was a couple of
steps away and got to her within seconds, but if he had turned away to
talk to me he might not have seen her as quickly. I never take my eyes
off her when she's near water.... I guess that's the life guard in me.

On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 06:01:41 GMT, toypup wrote:

I just went to DD's best friend's birthday party at the child's
grandparents' house. When we arrived, DD was escorted to the jumper in the
backyard where all the children were bouncing. That was fine by me. I
stood there for a while making small talk. I then went to see how DD was
doing at which point I notice they have a hot tub in the backyard that is
not protected by any barrier. It had a tarp floating on top, which was
even more dangerous, since a child could slip under it and not be noticed.
How irresponsible is that? There were lots of 3 and under there, including
DD. Some people just forget what it's like to have kids.

It's not that people forget what it's like- it's that other parents
expect everyone else to be responsible for their children. When my own
children are grown, I look forward to being able to do what I want in
my own home and yard!
The irresponsibility, if any, lies in parents like you thinking it was
the home-owner's job to watch out for everyone else's children.
Marie

In article , Marie says...

On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 06:01:41 GMT, toypup wrote:

I just went to DD's best friend's birthday party at the child's
grandparents' house. When we arrived, DD was escorted to the jumper in the
backyard where all the children were bouncing. That was fine by me. I
stood there for a while making small talk. I then went to see how DD was
doing at which point I notice they have a hot tub in the backyard that is
not protected by any barrier. It had a tarp floating on top, which was
even more dangerous, since a child could slip under it and not be noticed.
How irresponsible is that? There were lots of 3 and under there, including
DD. Some people just forget what it's like to have kids.

It's not that people forget what it's like- it's that other parents
expect everyone else to be responsible for their children. When my own
children are grown, I look forward to being able to do what I want in
my own home and yard!
The irresponsibility, if any, lies in parents like you thinking it was
the home-owner's job to watch out for everyone else's children.
Marie

??

It's a birthday party, and often the party hosts expect the parents to leave.

Banty

On 2 Jul 2007 07:42:56 -0700, Banty wrote:
It's a birthday party, and often the party hosts expect the parents to leave.

Banty

The parent should check around before leaving then.
I just get fed up with this attitude that it's up to everyone else in
the world to help protect my child. I think it's stupid that
trampolines and swimming pools by law have to be in some type of
enclosure.
Marie

"Marie" wrote in message
...
On 2 Jul 2007 07:42:56 -0700, Banty wrote:
It's a birthday party, and often the party hosts expect the parents to
leave.

Banty

The parent should check around before leaving then.
I just get fed up with this attitude that it's up to everyone else in
the world to help protect my child. I think it's stupid that
trampolines and swimming pools by law have to be in some type of
enclosure.
Marie

3 years old is a little young for Mom and Dad to be taking off leaving the
whole kid wranglign to the hosts anyway IMO. And I come down with you on
this one.

In article jn8ii.8086$pa5.3953@trndny05, Stephanie says...


"Marie" wrote in message
.. .
On 2 Jul 2007 07:42:56 -0700, Banty wrote:
It's a birthday party, and often the party hosts expect the parents to
leave.

Banty

The parent should check around before leaving then.
I just get fed up with this attitude that it's up to everyone else in
the world to help protect my child. I think it's stupid that
trampolines and swimming pools by law have to be in some type of
enclosure.
Marie

3 years old is a little young for Mom and Dad to be taking off leaving the
whole kid wranglign to the hosts anyway IMO. And I come down with you on
this one.



Actually, I would too; at three really it should be the kind of party where the
parents stay. But whether or not parents should be around to wrangle is up to
the host, and what to do it that's *not* the kind of party thrown?

IMO there's waaaayy too many birthday parties going on for little kids anyway,
it seems every nodding acquaintace has to be invited. I think some of this is
that a lot of people feel they just gotta throw a party, and there really isn't
the right venue.

Banty

On Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:57:19 GMT, "Stephanie" wrote:

3 years old is a little young for Mom and Dad to be taking off leaving the
whole kid wranglign to the hosts anyway IMO. And I come down with you on
this one.

I was actually thinking about this myself and was debating on whether
to post it. I wouldn't drop a young child off at a party and leave.
Someone would be nuts to actually *want* a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds
at their house with no parents LOL
Marie

On 2 Jul 2007 08:04:39 -0700, Banty wrote:

Actually, I would too; at three really it should be the kind of party where the
parents stay. But whether or not parents should be around to wrangle is up to
the host, and what to do it that's *not* the kind of party thrown?

IMO there's waaaayy too many birthday parties going on for little kids anyway,
it seems every nodding acquaintace has to be invited. I think some of this is
that a lot of people feel they just gotta throw a party, and there really isn't
the right venue.

The only "parties" my own children have been to at such a young age
were birthdays of cousins. So it was really a bunch of grandparents,
aunt and uncles, and cousins. Past that it's been mostly sleepovers,
but at an older age.
Marie