Alcohol at the Pool
A neighbor writes...
"I will preface this by saying I am not a prude and love my beer, wine, and mixed drinks. But I would like to suggest we open a conversation on curbing alcohol at the pool.
Today, June 9th, I took my daughter to the pool around 1pm. At the pool were four youths genuinely having a good time. However, my guess is all but one were under 21, and they had two open glass bottles of tequila and vodka. There was no profanity, nor drunken behavior, but I felt very uncomfortable having open glass bottles and underage drinking at the pool.
Please feel free to post this. I think when our adults drink at the pool it sets a bad example for our children. They have enough bad examples to follow in their lives — we can at least set some good ones."
Web/Blog editor writes... First of all, glass bottles of any kind are prohibited in the pool area, and underage drinking is addressed by state law, but what about adults? How do we balance an adult's desire to enjoy a drink or a beer with a need to set a good example for children? What is YOUR opinion?
"I will preface this by saying I am not a prude and love my beer, wine, and mixed drinks. But I would like to suggest we open a conversation on curbing alcohol at the pool.
Today, June 9th, I took my daughter to the pool around 1pm. At the pool were four youths genuinely having a good time. However, my guess is all but one were under 21, and they had two open glass bottles of tequila and vodka. There was no profanity, nor drunken behavior, but I felt very uncomfortable having open glass bottles and underage drinking at the pool.
Please feel free to post this. I think when our adults drink at the pool it sets a bad example for our children. They have enough bad examples to follow in their lives — we can at least set some good ones."
Web/Blog editor writes... First of all, glass bottles of any kind are prohibited in the pool area, and underage drinking is addressed by state law, but what about adults? How do we balance an adult's desire to enjoy a drink or a beer with a need to set a good example for children? What is YOUR opinion?
I do understand the complaint about bottles and underage drinking and DO NOT CONDONE THEM AT ALL! However, as homeowners we must enforce the rules on our own. We don't have a lifeguard, we don't have a security detail. I have asked adults and kids to take bottles outside the fence, I have told underage/unsupervised swimmers to leave the pool, I have asked teenagers to stop shooting the basketball on the roof of the clubhouse. We must set an example for our children by taking care of our "belongings"', putting our chairs back where we found them, picking up garbage and enforcing the rules. Underage drinking is against the law, glass at the pool is against the rules. Ask them to leave or call the police. As a parent, and a HOMEOWNER it is your duty and you will be sending a great message that we don't allow that nonsense here. Also, as homeowners and part of the association, we must respect each other and police ourselves and our children and guests. The pool is not a tiki bar, it's not a basketball court, it's not a kids playground. Respect your neighbors.
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Amen, Rita. Can't say it any better. I think the neighbor who wrote the post took care of the situation, but he was asking others to get involved as well, particularly in the issue of alcohol at the pool.
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