Swimming Pool Nazi

Included in the HOA fees of the townhomes that we live in is a swimming pool. It is not very big, but it has sure been refreshing during the past hot hot days that we've been experiencing! The other day, after Mason's nap, we decided to go for a swim. As I'm sure those of you with small children can relate, it takes a bit of preparation to take a little one swimming. After putting on his Little Swimmers and swim suit, I made sure that he was covered in SPF 50 sunscreen. Then, I packed the towels, floaties, water and snacks that we would need in the pool. As you can imagine, my hands were pretty full walking up to the pool. Since it is a private pool, I also had to insert our key and swing open the heavy gate while carrying all of our stuff and, most imporantly, Mason.

Anyways, as soon as Mason saw the water, he got really excited because he knew that he was going to get to go into the pool. After spreading out our stuff, I carried him and his floatie into the pool. He was splashing around and smiling and laughing, I just knew that the 3-4 other people there thought that he was so cute! :) Well, we had been in the pool maybe two or three minutes when a man sunbathing by the side caught our eye. He asked me "is he wearing rubber diapers?"

I was a bit surprised by this question, but I figured that he was just getting information for himself, perhaps for his own children. I smiled, and in a very friendly way answered that no, he was wearing the Pampers Little Swimmers. After I told him this, he remained expressionless, so I continued to elaborate, explaining that they are specifically designed for little kids to wear in the water. After hearing this, with not a hint of congeniality, he stated "the pool rules say that they have to wear rubber diapers to get in".

I was completely taken aback by this, I had not imagined that this was the reason why he had struck up this specific conversation. I told him that I had never heard of rubber diapers, let alone seen any place where I could purchase them. I asked him where I would be able to get them, and explained that I had not realized that that was a pool rule. He told me he did not know and continued to stare at us.

Who could kick out such a cute boy as this? Here he is, at home before we went swimming.

In hindsight, I wish that I would have just stayed in the pool, but, he was making me feel very uncomfortable, and I knew that everyone in the area had heard. I said to Mason, loudly enough for our new 'friend' to hear, "we have to leave, we just got kicked out." Of course, Mason was not very happy about this, but what could he do?

As I was drying Mason off, a father that was there watching his kids play told me how ridiculous and rude he thought the other man was, and I had to agree. I noticed the list of pool rules and scanned through them. They were all very generic rules like no glass or running. I went over the man and asked him where the 'rubber diaper rule' was since it was not posted. He told me in a very arrogant tone, "oh, there are 5 pages of pool rules in the covenants. You can look it up there or on the internet".

Look how sad Mason gets when he has to get out of the pool!

So, Mason and I went home, I first tried to look up these rules on the internet, but I couldn't find them, so I decided to call the HOA directly. The person that I talked with seemed surprised at my question. After placing me on hold for a minute or two, he came back and told me that he had just spoken with the manager, and she said she had never heard of such a rule! He said that if anyone ever bothered us about it again, to say that we spoke with the manager, and that swim diapers are just fine.

Only about half an hour had passed, so we went back to the pool. I loudly told my ally, the other parent there, what had happened, and Mason and I got back into the pool. The man who had first questioned us came over to see what had happened. I told him that I called and spoke with the manager and she said that she had never heard of such a rule. He looked at me incredulously and was like "who did you speak to." When I told him the manager's name, he acted surprised and went back to his lawn chair.

To his credit, he later came over and apologized.

So that's our experience with the pool nazi. :)