What would you do? A neighborhood etiquette question.

I would be saying while closing the door:  "I'm sorry honey, this isn't a good time for a visit; I have so much work to do today.  Thanks for stopping by!"  Close the door.  End of discussion.  Maybe even lock the door too and move the sofa in front of it.   Can't be too careful.  Hope the pool is fenced.  I totally agree about the liability, any single incident even a minor one, could result in someone making a claim against your homeowner's policy.  Some kid stubs his toe, and needs stitches, better whip out your checkbook.   [:@]   Jules

Oh, no Kelly, this is craziness!  You have RULES about the use of your pool for the neighborhood!  Oh, no, put a stop to this immediately.  Your yard is not a public pool. 

Whatever, the case was with the last owners, maybe they had kids, maybe they just liked kids, it's your pool now.  Whatever they did before doesn't matter now. 

If you invite them, that's one thing, but them just showing up like it's a pulic place should stop. 

If I was you, I would not let no one beside my family or guest use the pool because I don't want to take responsibility for others people who I do not know. Even neighbors. I will not let them use it, especially their kids.

I agree, tell the kids AND their parents no way.  Oh the nerve of people sometimes...[:@]

Yeah I agree.  Your pool, your rules.  Plus, never let your neighbors use it without you knowing or being around.  

I could not imagine letting my kids ask the neighbor if they could swim in their pool. And on top of it, they would NEVER be allowed to swim without me. What are these parents thinking?
 
I would be very firm on this, but nicely say " I don't mind the kids using the pool, but you the parent must be here with them." 
 
Even if the parent is there and the child is injured, they could charge you. That is the law here. We have a few go-carts for the kids and every kid around here wants to come and ride. We tell them that the parent must be here, but still we are taking a BIG risk. I would be very very careful.

I'm in complete agreement with everyone else. No way would that fly at my house, but for me, it's more of a privacy issue than a liability (although that's greatly important). I like things to be quiet, and I definitely wouldn't want people bothering me all day because they want to use my pool.

We've had a pool for about 16 years so I feel your pain!  I never learned to swim (I just hope if I ever fall in the deep end I have the presence of mind to walk to the shallow end and go up the steps []) so I always made it very plain that I do NOT NOT NOT do poolside babysitting. If the kids are a little older and can swim well they might not need someone sitting right there like when they were toddlers, but you still have to keep an *ear* peeled for what's going on. Make it a RULE that if a kid wants to come and swim, he/she has to bring a parent to supervise.  If it's a group, one parent still has to be there. That way the parents don't get the idea that you're providing a free *babysitting/entertainment* package for the neighborhood. Pick one or two evenings a week for parent supervised pool time, and that way you have your weekends to yourself, unless YOU decide to invite the neighborhood. Finally, I'll add that some of our most *fun* times in the yard were those days when a group of kids and parents were here and we'd decide to light up the bar-b-q - everyone would go and get something to contribute & we'd toss on hot dogs for the kids.  Have fun with your new pool. [][]

Joyce & Max

I can imagine they might have this issue this summer at one of the houses I work at, since they've got the only pool in the neighborhood, and it's a very nice one (with a jacuzzi, waterfall, and soon to have a waterslide).
If it were my house and my pool, i'd probably never let them come over. Then you have to be responsible for them, and plus then you have guests over and you have to be a good host. That would be enough for me to say no. But, i'm kinda getting that you might be friendly with one of the parents and in that case, I would invite them over when it was convenient for you, or let them know that their kids were asking, but tell them what time they are allowed over. If you are totally not friendly with the people, I wouldn't feel obligated to let them come over. If you think you might ever need a favor from these people though, it is probably worthwhile to let them come over a few times, and not completely banish them from the pool. If you can guarantee you will never need a favor, the hell with them I say.

Please - NO! 
Tell the kids, "Sorry, guys, we have work going on here and can't let you use our pool."  OUR pool.  Not the community pool.  You are absolutely liable, and I don't care if the previous owners did it, you don't have to.  Maybe they were willing to take on that responsibility of watching and MANAGING someone else's kids in the pool.  But especially with construction/work going on I wouldn't think twice about saying, "sorry, the answer is no".
 
Plus - what the heck parent encourages their kids to ask totally new strangers if they can hang out in their backyard.  They don't know if you could be monster molestors, or something.   (We know you're not, but they don't.)
 
I don't let anyone use my things that I can't ensure will respect them.  Period.
 
My sister has someone house sitting this week.  My mom came over and found the house-sitter's FRIENDS hanging out in the pool, in the house, and drinking, while the sitter was at work.  (Granted, they're over 21, but what house-sitter gives the rights to the pool to their friends and their friends' friends?)  They all got BOOTED!

Although I really believe that the kids were just being kids, you did the best thing.  They need to know right from the get go that this is no longer the neighborhood hang out.  If they think you are the grouchy new people then so be it.  Let their parents deal with that.  I have kids and would never expect someone else to sit and watch them in their pool especially someone with out children.  Any parent that has a problem with that is looking for  free time.  As someone else said, you may later enjoy having a get together with the neighbors that you meet  and would feel comfortable then letting the kids enjoy the pool.  You would be in control of inviting the ones who would respect your property and who would know it is a privelage not an everyday deal. 

Our new house has a pool. We've never had a pool before so it's a treat. The bad thing is my mothers loser husband and his punk son promised to maintain the pool, because they had one in the past, and this is what happened to it...
 

 
The only plus side to this was our daily visitor..

 
With that said, we don't know our neighbors. They keep to themselves around here. We do have lots of children around here but none of them have asked to use the pool. I don't know if I would either. In your situation, it depends on how you feel. If you don't want the kids to use the pool, let them know they can't. You aren't obligated to provide entertainment for the neighborhood. I can only hope that their parents have no clue that they are asking to use the pool because it would be incredibly tacky and idiotic of them to assume that you'd allow their children to use your pool. If you don't mind the kids, I would pick a day(s) and time(s)  that they can come over and use it. If they don't like it, too bad. Beggars can't be choosers.

I would guess that the kids had a friend their own age that lived in your house and they're just used to thinking of it as the *summer time hangout*. They'll have to learn and accept "different family, different rules".  They'll adjust. []

Joyce & Max

Meilani your visitor is too cool! []

Well, one of the kids came back tonight with two others and this time they asked to come and play with our dogs. Now I really think the parents had no idea about this one. We turned them away, but later on we were talking to the neighbor that we're freindy with and apparently this one kid is a major troublemaker. The neighbor said she's had to go down and talk to his family several times - apparently he camped out on her porch one day to harass her 4 year old and flat-out refused to move when she asked. He's probably 8-9 and the block bully I guess. [:@] The neighbor said she wouldn't be a bit surprised if he tries to get in during the day. We're not home and neither is she and I don't know what other precautions to take to keep him out - he'd have to go through a neighbors yard on three sides or over the fence on one side in the front or over/through a padlocked gate on the other side.

Ugh, we're not even considering letting anyone except the ones we're close to use it now - too much of a hassle - I'm just really stressing about liability issues and kids breaking in now. [8|]

ETA: Oh, and I did find out what house he lives in - we're going to go down there tomorrow evening. Any suggestions on what to say?