Did You See That Kid?

Yesterday while at the pool I watched a boy push kids off the slide. I would have said something, but it looked like the kids were playing some sort of game. But then, I saw that same kid push a girl down into the water and then another boy. It was clear that those two kids were not playing any sort of game. But before I could grab Liam and get up to say something a dad that was sitting near us says, very loudly, "Woa. Did you see that?" And he was right in that kid's face, "You do NOT push down kids in the pool. Or anywhere." And so the kid stopped and kept playing, but kept looking at this dad, who wasn't planning on going to sit down for awhile, and finally the dad said again, "I'm not going away. I want to make sure you don't push anyone else." And the kid didn't. For the rest of the morning.

I figured out who the Mom of the Boy was - she also had a toddler there with her and could have been pregnant. But still - you've got to know what your kid is doing, right?

Whenever we go to the pool I somehow manage to keep an eye on Quinn while staying within arms reach of Liam. And I can promise you this, if Quinn ever pushed somebody while in the water he would be out of that pool and into a time out - complete with tears from him about how he doesn't want a time out. But Quinn doesn't do that - he jumps in, plays with the water sprays, the water mushroom thingy, and if he can manage to find some friends to play with - he'll play catch or something.

So... when we got home later that morning I had the following conversation with Quinn, because I couldn't let it go unsaid.

Me - Did you see that kid at the pool? The one that was pushing kids?
Quinn - Uh, what did he look like?
Me - You know, he had short brown hair and swim shorts on... Anyway... he was pushing kids off the slide and then he pushed a little girl down into the water.
Quinn - Did she go under the water when he pushed her?
Me - Yeah. Can you believe he pushed her?
Quinn - oh. He shouldn't do that. What if she doesn't know to close her mouth and blow out her nose? Did she want to go under?
Me - I don't think so. She was crying when she stood up.
Quinn - Oh.
Me - You know Quinn, it's not okay to push other kids - so even if you see someone else doing it, I don't want you to think it's okay to do.
Quinn - Yeah. Nobody likes to be pushed down. I don't.


Now - on the other side of this - I saw a mom scold her son for getting water everywhere as he played with these water sprays. It's one of Liam's favorite things to do, you know, you step on the hole and water goes everywhere, and sometimes he gets people wet, but come on, you're at a pool, you are not allowed to complain about getting splashed.