Whaaa? How? Huh?

 Thats just scary.  Now, I'm super lax about watching my son.  He's 9 and has lots of friends around here so he's always out and about playing.  We're in a small town where nothing ever happens and I know all the parents around here.  That said, he has a curfew and if he's gone for the entire afternoon, I start to wonder.  But at the beach?  I'm on him at all times.  He knows he has to stay in view.  He's a good swimmer, but water is dangerous even at his age! 

Would I let Kali wander off for a second?  NOT A FREAKIN SNOWBALLS CHANCE IN THAT HOT PLACE DOWN UNDER!  Not even in our neighborhood!  She's MY responsibility, not Kale's, not any other parent's, not the lifeguard for sure.  How the heck is a lifeguard gonna save someones life if they have to take care of a toddler that does not belong to them?  Sheesh!  When I was a kid and went to the pool, we couldn't even hang out under the lifeguard stands unless there were 3 lifeguards on duty!  (one of the guards was super hot!  ....he's not anymore....kinda scrawny with stringy hair...looks the same actually...odd....)  Some parents just seem to think that if they aren't watching, someone else will.

When I worked for Wally, we had Code Adam's all the time where we would find a kid and look for his parents for ever!  And we were paging the whole time.  The thing with that was you have to be very vague when you page a found kid.  You don't want some sicko to just decide its a good time to go grab a kid.  

That said, when a Code Adam is called at Wal-Mart, its about as impressive as the changing of the guards.  Its one of the things I love about that place.  At least our local one.  EVERYBODY drops what they are doing, doors get posted, all exits are blocked and everyone but the cashiers go looking.  I never saw a Code Adam go on for more than 2 minutes there.  Most kids are found hiding in the clothing racks oddly.

huskymom

we couldn't even hang out under the lifeguard stands unless there were 3 lifeguards on duty!

to go OT a little - :) I've been a lifeguard's girlfriend for too long...

Ocean Rescue lifeguards are NOT pool lifeguards. Whole different ball game. They get reeeally mad about that.

 Our beaches are pretty crowded, so it's a guarentee that they'll probably be someone under their feet at one time or another. On super-busy weekends, they 'double-tower' or sit two to a lifeguard tower, so that they can 'see' everyone. BF is an experienced guard, so he usually patrols the beach and does fun stuff, instead of sit on a tower. So technically this boy wasn't 'distracting' a tower guard.

Strangely enough, last summer he found a lost LITTLE OLD LADY. She had some kind of dementia and her family took her to the beach, and she wandered away.

sl2crmeg

Ocean Rescue lifeguards are NOT pool lifeguards. Whole different ball game. They get reeeally mad about that.

This is confusing to me.  Soooo.....their job is NOT to keep an eye on the swimmers and make sure nobody is in trouble?  Or do they just have extra training on doing so with a toddler in tow?  My point was only that they have more important things to do than to watch somebody's kid cause some parents were more concerned with their margaritas and catching a tan.

What is the difference between an Ocean Rescue lifeguard and  a pool lifeguard?  Is it just that Ocean ligeguards have more responsibility?  I've never swam in the ocean, at least not intentionally, and definitely not a guarded beach, so I really don't know.  It would seem to me that with the added risks of sharks, jellyfish stings, and an undertow current, they would need to be even more focused on the swimmers?

So yep, you're right. They DO have way more important things to do.

Pool lifeguards and Ocean lifeguards are kind of like the highway patrol vs. sheriff's office in Super Troopers. LOL.

lmao at that last sentence!!!! =]

I just don't understand how you can loose a kid on a beach....really now parents! I know I wandered away from my parents a few times in stores a such - so my parents got me a leash.  Yes - I was one of those poor children attached to the shopping cart with a string. lol. But, I never got lost - and it was always ME hiding from my mom, rather than her not paying attention.

erica1989

so my parents got me a leash.  Yes - I was one of those poor children attached to the shopping cart with a string.

ROFL. My sister had one of those too!! My younger brother and I had a double stroller but she is 2 years older than me so she had to walk and wear it.

Hehe...my brother had one too!  It was red.  It's honestly the ONLY think I remember about our trip to Disney as kids...Jimmy on his red leash.....bet my dad's happy he paid for that vacation  

Sometimes I still think he needs one....very easily sidetracked by shiney objects.....did I mention he was the older brother?

erica1989

so my parents got me a leash

Yep, I had one too!  Maybe that's why we are dog people now, we can relate.

 Oh!  Me too!  Is that the common link between all of us?  I had the whole harness dealio going on!  I've got pics of me in it, with this huge red snow suit that would have made running away impossible anyway....

hahah! I guess so! I think mine was blue - just a velcro strap around my wrist - enough to restrain me from running off....until I figured out how to take it off! I also figured out how to get out of my carseat in the car... no wonder my poor mother has grey hair!

I saw the most hysterical thing at the park the other night (just remembered now!!) there was a mom walking around the lake - two leashes in hand. One connected to her dog, the other to her kid! It was pretty funny!

 I'm sad that the kid has dimwits for parents.  Hopefully this has shocked some sense into them...?

But by gum I'm happy the parents got their little boy back OK.  The sinking feeling they must have got when they realised he was gone, the gut wrenching, pant wetting terror they were feeling.... and the heart stopping relief and utter joy to get him back safe and whole. 

Get this, before I was born my mum left one of my sisters in the pram outside a shop!  She went in, bought her stuff and went home and left the pram there!  I kid ye not!  She never even realised.  Another sister spotted the pram on her way home from school, and thought "hey, that looks like ours... wait a minute, it IS ours!"

"Some people" hey? 

Chuffy

But by gum I'm happy the parents got their little boy back OK.  The sinking feeling they must have got when they realised he was gone, the gut wrenching, pant wetting terror they were feeling.... and the heart stopping relief and utter joy to get him back safe and whole.

Sad thing is, they may not have even been concerned.  I had people that would come shopping and just let their toddler's wander off.  The kids tend to gravitate to shoes, which is where I worked, and they would be in there pulling every pair of shoes off the rack that they could reach for, no word of a lie, hours.  The parents would just shop and then go and check out.  On their way out of the store they would stop off at courtesy and report their kid missing so we would bring them up.  Its mindblowing!

huskymom

Chuffy

But by gum I'm happy the parents got their little boy back OK.  The sinking feeling they must have got when they realised he was gone, the gut wrenching, pant wetting terror they were feeling.... and the heart stopping relief and utter joy to get him back safe and whole.

 

Sad thing is, they may not have even been concerned.  I had people that would come shopping and just let their toddler's wander off.  The kids tend to gravitate to shoes, which is where I worked, and they would be in there pulling every pair of shoes off the rack that they could reach for, no word of a lie, hours.  The parents would just shop and then go and check out.  On their way out of the store they would stop off at courtesy and report their kid missing so we would bring them up.  Its mindblowing!

I was charitably assuming that's what they were feeling.  That's what *I* would have been feeling.  How could a parent not??!!!

 Oh I know!  Once when Kale was a toddler, we were at the fair and he and my sister who is 10 years older than me, were sharing cotton candy.  Well, Tracey and Kale were both sticky and messy, so Tracey went off to the bathroom to clean up, and Kale went with her.  10 minutes later, Tracey came back without Kale!  She didn't even know he had gone off with her!  It was panic city then!  I was in tears, my sister was in tears, my nieces and their boyfriends, my sister and I all split up.  They shut down the exits to the park.  They made announcements.  It felt like hours, but was likely only 5 or 10 minutes before my niece's boyfriend found Kale wandering scared through the games.  After I knew he was safe, I went and threw up.  Kale had a nightmare that night too.  I felt awful.  It still chokes me up, 7 years later.