Swim club membership threatened over poop incident

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We belong to a pool and health club in southern california. We have been going there for about 8 years. My 14 year old autistic son loves swimming and we never had a poop incident. The other day i was with him at the pool when he had a poop accident. I cleaned it up as well as i could but the pool management became aware of it and had to do a more extensive cleaning. I thought that it was the right thing to go to the manager and tell them what had happened. The assistant manager thanked me and told me not to worry about it.

A couple of days later when my wife brought him to the pool, the manager took her aside and threatened that if it happened again Zane would not be allowed back.

I understand that the pool has an obligation to its members, and the last thing i want to do is to have this behavior continue, but i dont think that if a small child had a accident (it's happened there before) the parents of the child would have been threatened.

Not sure if there is anything i can do about this.

It seems to me that barring him from the pool might be considered discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. If they actually do try to bar you, perhaps a strongly worded letter from a civil rights attorney would be in order...

Poop is unsanitary. It's dangerous to swim in poop. Pools have to have lots of chlorine just to keep everything sanitary. If your son has an accident, they have to then spend all kinds of time cleaning the pool and other members have to deal with it. I wouldn't want to be swimming where I always have to worry about some kid pooping in the pool.

Your son isn't a little kid having a little accident. He's 14. I'm sure his accidents aren't the same size as a little kid either. Regardless of his disability, nobody should have to deal with it.

If people pay for their membership, then they shouldn't have to pay to swim in feces. Other people may leave if this becomes a habit, and they'll lose money.

If your son only does this once every few years, then I don't see it being a problem. But if he starts to do it more often, then it's just not fair to everyone else.

If your son poops more often in his pants, I would invest in some adult swim diapers.

Depending on if the poop is formed or loose while dictated how long the pool has to be totally closed down.

The CDC has guide lines (US). For "formed" poop, the CDC say a minimum of 1 hour closure until the chlorine levels reach a certain level. If the poop is "loose", you are looking at a minimum of one day closure.

Your pool may have a more stringent disinfecting time frame, meaning the pool is closed even longer. That means members aren't happy when it gets shut down since they are paying.

You just don't scoop the poop out and toss an extra handful of chlorine into the pool. There is a bunch of paperwork and aggravation.

What to do. Ask the pool manager what they suggest or what the guide lines for kids still in diapers. My public pool says toddlers must be in swimming diapers or plastic diaper cover for cloth diapers. There has to be something for adults with poor bowel control. My pool has sessions for the people with limited mobility, and the bulk of those people are wheelchair bound. Most of them do not look toilet trained (they also have some cognitive issues).

You'd hate to buy some adult diapers and find out the pool says you must use this brand.

If the pool does not allow non toilet trained children in the pool, you might be out of luck. It falls under a public health issue.

Good luck. I hope you can work something out.

It's a big cost to the swim club to clean that up. It's not just a matter or wiping it up. The pool has to minimally have the chemistry rebalanced which means a shut down of an hour minimum. All those other kids with lessons during that time? Their lessons are cancelled. In some cases they may even need to drain the pool and refill. That depends on the size and type of filtration. Most swim clubs and YMCA will have a pool that doesn't need drained.

Our YMCA has the same policy, even for the special needs folks. You get one free pass basically. After that? No more pool.

I have a medically fragile child and will be very upset if another child kept pooping in the pool, compromising my own child's health. My local YMCA's guidelines are very strict. I do not know when they terminate someone's rights to use their swimming pool but I would guess that they probably follow the "2 strikes and you are out" guideline with repeat "offenders". This is why my child wears a swim diaper on top of a regular diaper (although toilet trained) for extra precaution when we take our little one swimming. Swimming is immensely therapeutic, and I do not want to hazard losing the righy to use the pool.

Your child's rights to use the pool should not impinge on other children's rights to enjoy the water (for which they have also - I presume - paid). I suggest putting your child in adult diapers which will save you (and other people) much heart ache. I wish you the best.

OP here. first i must say that i completely agree with everyone who says that the poop in the pool causes a problem for the pool operators and for the people who use it. I am not advocating that they should allow my son in the pool if he is pooping in it.

My issue is the way this was handled by the pool administrators. I may be wrong, but i doubt that other toddlers or young children who had accidents in the pool were threatened and that is why i think there may be some discrimination.

I didnt know they made adult swim diapers. That seems to be the ticket until we find out if this is just a one time deal or if this is some sort of behavior he is developing.

Thanks for your help.

Can you elaborate exactly what they said that was "threatening" ? I would be upset if I was told that my kid cannot do X or Y or Z because of A or B or C. But if I was "threatened" or "talked down to" I would be furious. Tone matters as much as content. This must have been an uncomfortable conversation for the Y staff to have (especially if you have been a long time member). I think you are upset and speculating that Y will bend the rules for younger children. I have a kindergartner and don't think so. Rules are rules. That is why my kid wears a regular diaper and then a swim diaper on top of it inspite of being toilet trained.

If you are upset by the staff member's tone you can go and talk to their supervisor and complain about how the matter was handled. You might get an apology that mollifies your feelings. But I don't think the Y will ever practice age discrimination such as allowing toddlers to poop in the pool but not older children because the clean up is a major headache regardless of whether the offender is 2 or 12 or 20. I am guessing that the Y will probably be more angry with the parents of babies or toddlers who soil the pool because those parents should know better than bringing in a baby or tot without a diaper on. A parent of a teenager will probably be treated better because no one expects a toilet trained teen to soil the pool.

Actually, the two pools I frequent read the riot act to the parents, and have them sign a form that their child will be in appropriate poop containing gear. The next accident they are banned.

Both pools had outbreaks of ecoli. You can't tell by how the poop looks if it is infectious. The usually suspects are parents of the under 2 crowd "who swear" their child is totally potty trained. (eye roll).

The reason you got jumped on is because of all the other knuckle heads who won't put swim diapers on their kids. You play nice, and get ignored. Then the accident happens again and the pool is closed for most of the day.

It's a bigger deal to have people be hygienic, than be nice and worry about feelings being torque. People ignore polite and nice. I saw it all last summer. Dads who want their 18 month old sons to be in "big boy trunks". The kid has an accident. You know the rest.

So now everyone gets the hammer drop on them. The staff doesn't know if you are nice and reasonable or if you are going to die on the hill of who knows what.

Out of all the public places people play, pools have no f*cks to give about hurt feelings. Public safety and health trump an aggravated parent.

I have a feeling the clean up protocol was not followed after the accident. The actual manager found out, and heads rolled. Who knows what they said about you. While the worker drone was polite and maybe did nothing, the manager is on the griddle with public health. Fecal accidents are reported to the health department here.

I personally would figure out what you can use so your son can continue swimming, than tear it up with management.

Hope your son can continue his fun.