Editorial: Parents Know Best, Not Council

THE new rules at the Scone pool are disappointing and the reason behind the rule change I find more than a little ironic and misguided. See story: Pool Rules Changed – Kicked Out.

When I grew up in Scone I spent summers at the local pool with my friends and enjoyed the freedom of being able to do that in a country town.

I was also in the swimming club and still have an aversion to cold water from early morning training at the beginning of October.

My sister and I quit swimming club not long after we got a new coach and we are glad we did, as years later we learned other swimmers were indecently assaulted by the coach.

I also remember being at the pool as a teenager and friends, both boys and girls, feeling “creeped out” by some older men.

I understand the new recommendations by the Royal Commission are to protect children from predators, but I fundamentally disagree with Council changing the rules at the pool to prevent children going to the pool until they are 14 years old.

UPDATE: Please note the age is actually 15 years and older to be unsupervised.

Unfortunately if those rules were implemented when I was a child, they would not have stopped the indecent assaults that occurred at the swimming club.

As the mum of two girls I allowed my eldest daughter to start going to the pool with her friends when she was 11 years old.

I knew that she was a strong swimmer, I felt she was at an age where she could swim safely and ride her bike safely with her friends.

But I also sat her down and had the same conversation I have with her every time she goes down to the sports oval with her friends, or on a bike ride, which includes always staying in a group, not going into public toilets unless absolutely necessary and only then with a group of friends and always trusting your instincts if anything makes you feel uncomfortable.

When my girls first started having sleep overs we had similar conversations.

It is critical to talk to your kids about predators, how to avoid situations where they could be preyed upon and to always talk to us about any situation or any person that makes them feel uncomfortable even if they can’t quite explain why and even if they think it is someone we trust.

No matter who may make them feel uncomfortable, they know I will believe them and protect them at all costs.

We have talked about how predators deliberately groom and often make friends with the parents to make children feel uncomfortable about raising an issue.

You need to have those conversations with all children at all ages.

But every child is different and every parent will make a different decision for when they feel their child is old enough to be able to do things unsupervised, but it should be the parent’s decision.

At the age of 11 I felt comfortable that my daughter and her friends were able to go to the swimming pool together.

The advantage of living in the country is that children can have more freedom, ride their bikes together and go for a swim or play in the park.

The flip side is that you also have to engender responsibility, because with freedom also comes risk and you can never eliminate risk, only manage it.

It would be a great shame to me if my daughter isn’t able to go to the pool this summer with her friends or for a few years to come, in an era where we need to be encouraging children to be more active and get outdoors.

So I agree with many other parents in this community and I absolutely don’t feel my decision as a parent should be overridden by this Council, god knows their decisions I rarely find impressive or educated, they have quite the track record of arbitrary, knee-jerk responses and I believe this is yet another example.

Updated story:

• Water Getting Deeper for Council – October 23, 2018.