A woman from Pennsylvania named Jen Wymer was enjoying a leisurely day at the pool with her kids, when she suddenly found herself being escorted away by police -- all because she refused to remove her son Max's water wings.
She had already been forced by the lifeguard to take them off the boy once, even after she explained that Max suffers from cerebral palsy and needs those wings to help him stay afloat in the water. Jen even went so far as to hold Max in the water for an entire hour, but finally decided to put the floaties back on. And that's when the lifeguard got fed up, asked her to take them off again, and called the police when she refused.
Is this not one of the most outrageous things you've ever heard? Who in their right mind would force any child to go without their water wings in a public pool -- let alone a kid with special needs? And who kicks a kid out of a pool simply for wearing them in the first place?!
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Apparently the park rules state that life saving devices & water wings are prohibited because they give swimmers a "false sense of security" in the water. But for a child who is still learning to swim and be comfortable swimming in the pool independently, wearing floaties can be the one thing that stands between them actually enjoying their swim and winding up being terrified of the water.
My son is 6 years old, and while he's almost to the point of knowing how to swim -- he isn't quite there yet. And that's why if we're swimming in a pool that has a deep end, I put his water wings on so he can venture past the shallow end without me having to hold him. Never for one second have I considered those wings to be a floatation device. But they do make me feel slightly more comfortable about letting him navigate the pool on his own (with my eyes on him at all times, of course).
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And if anyone ever asked me to take off his floaties because of some silly rule -- I'm thinking I'd probably need a police escort too, because I wouldn't be able to control the "leave us the hell alone & mind your own business" comments that would likely come out of my mouth.
I understand that proper safety precautions need to be taken at swimming pools, and I know this lifeguard was only doing his/her job -- but rules were made to be broken, especially in the case of a boy with cerebral palsy who is only trying to enjoy his summer break.
You can hear more about what happened to Jen & Max in this video clip.
Do you think it was necessary for the lifeguard to call police? Does your child wear water wings in the pool?
Image via WPIX
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Comments 128
Truthfully, I never took my children to a public pools. basically b/c I alwaus found them too crowded, and dirty. Growing up, we a;ways had my grandfather's pool in the country, so we learned to swim very young as well. My boys later had my parent's built in pool, so I was able to let them have an inflateable raft/boat, and many people around them. We had a 4ft pool in our yard since my boys were very small. There was a safety ladder that went up, so they couldn't get in without an adult. they had regular tubes, and noodles, but learned how to swim very early Actually my oldest is Downs Syndrome, and would go swimming all yr. long in an indoor pool. and learned how to swim without any extra swimming apparatus.
I feel bad that they escorted them out, and the life gaurd is probably young, and should have gone to get the manager. Hopefully, she can get something ilfe gaurd approved for her son.
If the rule is CLEARLY states that all life saving devices & water wings are prohibited, then why did she go in the first place. You can not pick and choose the rules you want to follow just because they work for you. We all must follow the rules. Otherwise just don't go.
These stupid arbitrary rules that mean absolutly nothing and allow underqualified assholes to act like Hitler really piss me off. WTF are a couple of floaties hurting?! I mean really, then to call the cops?! Assholes. Fine, if the lifeguard doesnt want to let the special needs kid wear them, then he should have to stay in the water with this kid himself so the kid can have the same rights as anyone else.
"Rules were made to be broken?!? Are you seriously that stupid?!? So we should walk around construction sites with no hard hat, let kids text all through out class and kids play in busy intersections because 'rules are made to be broken'! Those rules are in place for SAFETY reasons, and yes I feel bad for this mom, but she already stated that she was in the water with him for an hour, so the real reason she got kicked out was she didn't want to spend the time in the pool taking care of HER son."
this was said so well.yesterday i was at the beach and my little girl is 4 but does not know how to swim fully yet so i had her life jacket on and one of the kids playing in the water asked me if she had it on why was i still following her around the water and not sitting with the other parents on the beach, i told her because the life jacket should not be used as "parent supervision " just because she has it on does not mean she is safe for me to leave her alone in the water. but it does sound like this was what the mother was doing useing it as a way to not have to follow her son around
Jennifer B Kinghorn
wait why should the life guard be in the pool with the child the mother is the one who did not do her home work if she would have looked ahead and seen that there was a way to get around the rule then things would be different and also she toke her child to the pool she should be the one in the water the whole time. when my children were younger and would not wear floaties i stood there the whole time with them, you do what you have to do in order to follow the rules
It seems to me that so many of these places implement these policies to first appease the attorneys and second to right rules to the lowest common denominator. They believe that these rules will protect them from lawsuits but as my attorney has informed me, anybody can sue anybody for any reason at any time. Like many others on here, I am an informed parent that is within 2-3 feet of my child at all times (incidentally that is also a rule there but I would do it anyway to teach her how to swim) and I don't expect the floaties or a lifeguard to save her life if she gets into trouble as I will be the first one there to respond.
We have too many rules today and we use the cloak of "safety" to allow awful customer service.