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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Issue With Neighbor's Pool And Parent Concerns
joyb~provider 02:35 PM 07-15-2011
Wow, this is a new one for me. My next-door neighbors just got a 15 ft above ground pool. They have no fence or gate at anything, and have no plans to get one. Too expensive, they said. This is all legal in my county though. We do a lot of outside time but my property is fenced, gates locked, etc and both me and my assistant are usually outside with them. (I mean that one of us is ALWAYS out there, usually but not always both.) Anyway a couple of dcp are going ballistic about the lack of fencing on their pool and want me to "do something about it". One dcm is convinced that little Johnny cannot be contained around a pool and will rush out of my sight, scale the fence, and drown before I know it.

I don't know what I CAN do about this. I don't really even know these people that well, I don't see them very much. Either way I don't think I could exactly force them to build a fence to alleviate my dcp concerns, ya know?
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cheerfuldom 02:50 PM 07-15-2011
There is nothing you can do about it as far as I know. You have a fenced, locked yard and the kids are supervised. I don't know who these parents think they are asking you to control the neighbors.
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MyAngels 03:08 PM 07-15-2011
Tell them you will be glad to have a fence installed around the neighbor's pool - in order to do it, their rate will be increased by $200 per week in order to pay for it. I'm kidding. Sort of .
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joyb~provider 03:19 PM 07-15-2011

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Blackcat31 03:23 PM 07-15-2011
I had a neighbor friend years ago who had a big above ground pool. When they went out of town for the weekend a neighborhood boy decided to go for a swim. He got seriously hurt. My neighbor was held liable and paid out lots of $$$, even though our city didn't require them to have it fenced either.
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TBird 03:44 PM 07-15-2011
Originally Posted by MyAngels:
Tell them you will be glad to have a fence installed around the neighbor's pool - in order to do it, their rate will be increased by $200 per week in order to pay for it. I'm kidding. Sort of .
HELLOOOOOOO!!!

Are these parents DAFT??? You have a fenced, locked yard...that's what it's there for...who the heck do they think they are??? I wouldn't even allow them to bother me with the nonsense...if the owners of the pool can't afford a fence, what do they expect YOU to do??? Again....the "entitlement complex"....
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PitterPatter 06:26 PM 07-15-2011
Originally Posted by joyb~provider:
Wow, this is a new one for me. My next-door neighbors just got a 15 ft above ground pool. They have no fence or gate at anything, and have no plans to get one. Too expensive, they said. This is all legal in my county though. We do a lot of outside time but my property is fenced, gates locked, etc and both me and my assistant are usually outside with them. (I mean that one of us is ALWAYS out there, usually but not always both.) Anyway a couple of dcp are going ballistic about the lack of fencing on their pool and want me to "do something about it". One dcm is convinced that little Johnny cannot be contained around a pool and will rush out of my sight, scale the fence, and drown before I know it.
I don't know what I CAN do about this. I don't really even know these people that well, I don't see them very much. Either way I don't think I could exactly force them to build a fence to alleviate my dcp concerns, ya know?
Fire that right back at her! "Well if he can scale my fence then if they had it fenced little Johnny could scale their fence too and jump right in!" I would close with they are not breaking any laws and u are not the pool police anyway!

The nerve of these parents I tell ya! Balls of steel!
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youretooloud 06:59 PM 07-15-2011
I think that's really odd that parents would worry about their kids getting over your fence.

I live in one of those areas that most people have a pool anyway...

So, if it's a big concern to these people, maybe it's time to teach their own kids to swim. All kids need to learn to swim, if they have a child that can't be controlled around water, he should be able to swim. Since he is so likely to throw himself into a pool at any second.
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kitkat 10:28 AM 07-16-2011
Tell DCM to send a life jacket for little johnny to wear so that when he scales your fence, climbs the pool ladder, and falls into the pool, then at least he'll have that on while you fish him out of the pool Then again, I'm sure if little johnny can scale the fence and climb the pool ladder, then he'll probably be able to unbuckle his life jacket and take that off. I don't get what some parents are thinking.
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sharlan 10:51 AM 07-16-2011
You have no control over what your neighbors do. If the mother is that concerned, she should go talk to your neighbor.
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Unregistered 11:21 AM 07-16-2011
""One dcm is convinced that little Johnny cannot be contained around a pool and will rush out of my sight, scale the fence, and drown before I know it. ""

Perhaps little Johnny needs to learn better behavior. Tell that mom that if he were to so much as TRY getting out of your yard, she will find herself looking for other care. That kind of misbehavior shouldn't be tolerated, pool or no pool.

You have no control over what that neighbor does. As you said their pool and lack of fencing are legal within your county. Nothing you can do with it. Just for the record as a homeowner I would be seriously pissed off if someone else's client came over here demanding I do something because their kid can't listen. (Mind you, I wouldn't have a non-fenced in pool either. If I can't afford to fence it, then I can't have the pool yet)
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Childminder 02:36 PM 07-16-2011
Are you certain that it isn't illegal to not have it fenced? Check with the local gov't ordinances. In Michigan it is a punishable crime to not have a fence around the pool, even a blow-up pool. If it is indeed illegal, give the address of the offender and the number to the local authorities to the parents so you can honestly say you did not call to report them.
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dEHmom 07:01 AM 07-18-2011
so if your yard was not fenced and the neighbors yard was, would your client be happy? I don't understand what the difference between your fence and the neighbors fence would be?????


I have a 15 ft kiddie pool in my backyard, I fill it and let it sit for a few days before I dump it. My yard is completely fenced and usually locked. It's about 2 feet high, but I only fill it about half way (so 1 ft deep). By the time the kids get in it, it's only about 1 inch full because they've splashed all the rest out.

I have a bratty little neighbor kid who came over one day, and I kicked him out, explained to him he cannot be here because of the daycare hours, and maybe after supper he could come back. We all came in the house so I could change dcb's and get them ready for pickup time...literally 5 minutes after kicking him out, I find out he is BACK IN MY POOL with his friend (who looks like one of those g- unit little punks - both kids are around 8 yrs old)...I yelled this time and kicked them both out, explaining that they 1) cannot just come over, especially during the day because I can't have extra kids...2) are NOT ALLOWED in the pool unless I say so and am supervising them....3) do not want some kid I do not know in my yard PERIOD!

This other kid (neighbors friend) keeps knocking on my door everyday asking if he can play with my kids. I was being nice at first, but now I just yell GO AWAY. If I have to be the wicked witch on the block that's fine by me. I deal with enough kids daily, and have my own 3 kids to take care of afterhours....I am not in the mood for free babysitting because neighbor kids parents are never around and big brother doesn't want little bro tagging along on his mischief trips (big bro always has cops knocking on the door). I've explained to mom that he cannot be here during the daytime because of my limit. She works and so does dad, so they are not around, big bro doesn't want to watch little bro, so he tells him to go play somewhere, and somewhere usually ends up here. I am tempted to just bill them for "babysitting" time.
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countrymom 07:19 AM 07-18-2011
I have an above ground pool that has I have a permit and lock and key door and a alarm on it, there isn't no fence because you don't need one (I'm putting a chain link fence but thats because I don't want the kids to touch my landscaping) now like dh said, if that doesn't make people happy, or they are worried that their kid is going to scale a 5 foot fence then there is a problem with the kid. I have to agree with others, if a parent is afraid of their child jumping your fence then there is a problem with their child.

Now I live out in the county so fencing is rare out here, my next door neighbour who last year would visit all the time (she lives a couple houses down) well my littles would use the kiddie pool that i had for them (the step 2 with slide) and I would put it on the grass because its easier to drain and it the grass would cushion the bottom. Well as I'm putting my kids to sleep she's letting her kid play in my pool, so I would go out and drain it (I let the kids play after nap thats why I didn't drain) well one day dh was outside (this in one of many issues that happened last year) and the kid is playing all by himself. So I go outside, and i'm looking all over for his mother and so is dh, the gpa was in the garage and dh goes and gets him and tells him that the kid can't play in the pool, so gpa starts hollering for his mother and it takes her a while to come out and he tells her that she needs to watch her kid. So then for the rest of the summer I put the pool on our deck, which was a pain. But how many times she would be in the house and leave him all by himself outside (he was 1.5yr old last year) or with my 6 yr old dd, and dd would bring him inside because she didn't know what to do. Now they know they need to stay out of the yard, dh has spoken to them several several times that he doesn't want to see them in our yard or the dog in the yard. I'm not putting a fence around my property because the dd is a lazy parent.
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lblanke 06:50 PM 01-26-2019
Drowning deaths are the number one cause of accidental death in kids under 5, and they often occur at non-swimming times. so I can see why parents are concerned. I would emphasize what you are doing to keep kids safe, both during outdoor play and inside play (do you have high locks on the outdoor gate and doors in your home? are kids always in direct line of sight or seen on a monitor?).
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Blackcat31 07:43 AM 01-27-2019
Good info as always but just in case anyone hasn’t noticed, this is an old thread
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Tags:2011, neighbor issue, pool, safety issues
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