Stagnant pools have been making the news a lot lately. But this isn't a story about THAT stagnant pool.
This one is much smaller and no one is alleging sabotage. It might have a little incompetence on the part of maintenance in common with that other pool...
Can't they just get a bunch of snails or those sucker fish like the rest of us?
Anyway, a parent turned to the "Am I The A**Hole" (AITAH) subReddit for feedback after their in-laws took umbrage over their critique of their pool.
No Olympians were arrested though.
Similar to AITA, the AITAH subReddit allows posters to ask for advice and post about ending romantic relationships—both things that are banned on AITA. However, there are no required voting acronyms—only suggested ones—and no official final judgment declared.
Skybluepink15 asked:
"AITAH for not letting my kids swim in my in-laws' pool?"
The original poster (OP) explained:
"We spent the weekend at my in-laws' cottage. Two weeks earlier, they'd filled their kiddie pool with lake water for my nieces and nephews."
"Between Tuesday and Saturday (when we arrived), the pool sat uncovered with the filter turned off. My father-in-law had added chlorine on Tuesday, but didn't run the filter or add any more chlorine before we got there."
"We asked them to refill it in advance of us visiting, but they wouldn’t. They have a well and apparently it would have drained it dry and it was too much work to dump and refill from the lake."
"My kids are all under 5, and they're in the phase where they swallow pool water and dunk their heads underwater."
"Because I wasn't confident about the water quality after it had been sitting stagnant for several days, I told them they couldn't swim. It was green and very cloudy."
"I was the big meanie. Rather that than risk my kids health though!"
"My in-laws were pretty offended. They brought it up multiple times over the weekend."
"I wasn't accusing them of being careless—I just wasn't comfortable with my young kids swimming in water that had been sitting for several days without filtration and chlorine, especially knowing they'd probably drink it."
"See pool here:"
skybluepink15/Imgur
"Unfortunately, I am a people pleaser to my core (except when it comes to protecting my children—I’m fierce in that regard). I was the most polite and diplomatic I could be."
"They told us: 'so I guess we aren’t going to all the work of setting up the pool for you next year if you don’t want to swim in it'…No, please don’t. And it was already set up for the previous grandchildren—who got fresh water. Well, lake water, but at least not stagnant."
"Still not sure how they filled it with lake water… I assume they must have some sort of pump because it’s at least a couple hundred feet if not more to get to the water."
"AITAH?"
Some Redditors weighed in by using the AITA voting acronyms:
- NTA - Not The A**hole
- YTA - You're The A**hole
- NAH - No A**holes Here
- ESH - Everyone Sucks Here
- INFO - more information needed
Redditors decided the OP was not wrong to take a pass on their in-laws algae bath (NTA).
"NTA. That picture says a thousand words. In-laws are insane if they think that's okay for kids." ~ tryintobgood
"The issue is their spouse should have addressed it. My own husband would never have let that fly and would have told his parents no."
"And nobody would have gotten triggered. People don't take it well being told things by in-laws, both ways." ~ lovesickdogwrithing
"NTAH. I opened that pick and went "Ohhhh gross" out loud in RL. I wouldn't let a dog swim in that pool let alone a child. Absolutely not."
"If your in-laws are offended that's their problem. Your first priority is your children's health and safety, not their fragile egos. Maybe this will be their wake up call to either take care of the pool properly or just retire it altogether." ~ Mis73
"Yeah I feel like fresh lake water I would be okay with, because I'd let my kids swim in a lake too. But any water that has been standing for days is a no go. Especially lake water. Nopedy No No." ~ Elelith
"I'm stuck on the using of lake water to fill it. That sounds like an incredibly hard project unless they've got some kind of powered pump and a hose that runs from it or something. Do they not have a garden hose to fill the pool?" ~ SadFaithlessness3637
"We have a small plastic kiddie pool for my mom's Golden that we fill up when it's super hot. We never leave water in it for longer than a couple days before we empty it, sweep out the bottom, hose it out & refil it." ~ blurblurblahblah
"Grab a glass from the kitchen and fill it with that water. Ask them both to drink it first." ~ Illustrious_Soft_257
"Logically, I don’t think I’d drink any pool water regardless." ~ Worth_Hippo_4094
"Spot on. Anyone who has sat and watched kids at the pool know they they put that water in their mouth too." ~ CardApprehensive2194
"NTA if it’s hot, and it’s just been sitting there stagnant, there’s a high likelihood of incredibly horrifying parasites to be living in that. Chlorine or not, I would not have let my kids swim in that either. You made the absolute correct call." ~ BringerOfLight2884
"...yeah no that's gross. I'm an adult who loves swimming and I wouldn't be getting in that pool. You're right to not want your young kids swimming around in dirty stagnant water. NTA." ~ CeramicToast
"A little staph with a side of Legionaires uhhh nope and hot summer days burns off the chlorine quickly. Not really safe, shocking it and constant filtering and a whole host of additional chemicals would possibly make it safe for a week at best." ~ S00pergenius
"I understand why you wouldn’t let your kids swim there it sounds yucky. I also get why your in-laws would be offended, hopefully them being offended turns into them cleaning their pool. NTA." ~ Sea_Roof3637
"If someone said I smelled like a rotten banana after not having showered for a week I'd feel offended, but I'd make sure to shower daily henceforward." ~ Gurglaren
"NTA that looks like a great place to find brain eating amoeba." ~ sqeeky_wheelz
"that pool looks positively disgusting. there's a reason even actual, in ground chlorinated pools must be treated regularly with chemicals. definitely not safe. NTA." ~ Infinite-Relation137
"NTA … by the way is Bobby Kennedy Jr your in-law‽‽" ~ luckyLindy69
"Maybe they inoculated the pool with water from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool..." ~ Embarrassed_Age8554
"Looks like the Reflecting Pool." ~ AspiringCrone
So I'm not the only one who made that connection...
"That pool is nasty. You are NTA. ~ImaginationNo7722
"I had one those exact pools for my kids. I took care of it, checked it daily, covered when not in use so water was clear. Unlike that swamp. ~Low_Cook_5235
"My childhood cottage had a pump to pull water straight from the lake. It was fine for bathing & washing up but we'd bring big jugs of water up from the city for drinking, cooking & brushing our teeth. My mom would boil water for dishes."
"The water from the sinks, bathtub, toilet & outside hose came straight from the lake with nothing filtering it except for a few squares of window screen over the end of the intake hose held on with a hose clamp."
"The end of the hose had a brick tied to it to keep it under water & a empty bleach bottle on a rope to keep it off the bottom." ~ blurblurblahblah
"Lemme get this straight. Your in laws wanted your kids to swim in green and cloudy pool water? Do they hate your kids or something? NTA." ~ Sufficient-Lie1406
"NTA that’s disgusting and dangerous to let them swim. Stagnant water has a lot of bacteria and they didn’t chlorinate it right at all." ~ GrimeRose
"Ingesting algae is a hazard. NTA." ~ catwhisperer77
"NTA, that water looks dirty AF, I wouldn't swim in water that looks like that or let my kids get in it either. I'd let the inlaws, or anybody, go ahead and be offended." ~ mysticspacecow
"Yuck. NTA. I don’t see why they were so offended that they had to bring it up multiple times. This water looks like it would get kids, especially so young, sick." ~ horsesandkatanas
"NTA, they can swim in the swamp alone. The most annoying part of having a pool is maintaining it, even a smaller plastic one needs to be looked after, specially is it is for your young grandchildren. Even if it was tap water after day two or three it wouldn't be looking to good anymore."
"While I salute lake water and aknowledge that it won't look pool blue, we still has to check the pH, add some chlorine and monitor the lvls, add floculants to treat the water from whatever was in it before, etc..."
"I would deada** say that they can use the pool as they please, but the kids need actually treated water." ~sssch24
Safety first, especially for young children, should be everyone's top priority.
If the in-laws' bruised egos are more important than their grandchildren's health, that's a them problem, not an OP problem.
