Now, back to Saturday. After a fruitless search, my husband and I took the girls to the beach. I took my knitting, my camera, a blanket and a cooler. My husband took towels for him and wore his swim trunks. The girls each carried a towel. The beach was very crowded. There were lots of boats and sea-doos
in the water and lots of people everywhere. It was very sunny and hot and humid.
No nice breezes to make it comfortable. The girls had a blast playing in the water 
and my husband kept being drug (by the girls) back into the water. There were guys using a metal detector, finding coins. Lots of children running in and out of the water. Lots of parents watching their children. Lots of men in swim trunks and in some cases t-shirts in the water, playing life guard for their children. 
We had a wonderful day and were glad that we hadn't gone to Kings Island. It would have been even more crowded. We are also glad that we hadn't gone to YMCA. The one in Lebanon has some poorly trained life guards and some poorly made rules. After the near drowning of twins at another Ohio Y, and the drowning of some other children in private pools one year, the Lebanon Y, changed their rules for children to swim and their guards do not watch the children, they just harass the parents. They spend a lot of time telling us what the children can and cannot do. Rule #1: All children must wear a bracelet, even if mom or dad is in the water swimming with them. Even if mom or dad is watching the children. Rule #2: Mom or dad has to be in the water with their children at all times. Imagine if you will sitting on a beach chair in the water with your feet in the water. Then read your book. Now what makes this hilarious, a lot of parents do that. They ignore their children and the guards also ignore the children. They are too busy flirting with each other and shooting the breeze. Our children are safer at Kings Island's water park than they are at a YMCA. Rule #3: If the children cannot pass a yearly swim test, they are not allowed on the slide, the diving board, the deep end (anything over 4 feet), etc., they cannot be in the water unless their parents are in the water (I forget isn't the point of a life guard sitting on a chair up high so they can see more of the water at one time, while parents in the water can lose sight of their children). Now, here is another fun point about the swim test: the children (starting age 6) have to swim 25 yards like Mark Spitz in the Olympics. If they don't, they don't pass. Now they could swim a dirty 25 yards and they will not pass, but they made it without stopping. But they were not worthy of the Olympics. This is when I wish I still had my USA Swimming certification and could official at their meets and disqualify them for any small infraction. (Who knows maybe I did without knowing it). These kids who life guard at the YMCA are real quick to say that is not my job, but they will chase the kids out of the pool for not following the bracelet rule, but they didn't want to pass the bracelets out to the children when they arrived at the pool. Instead, you have to wander around the pool looking for someone who feels like giving the children their bracelets.
Another complaint I have about this YMCA, is that the only thing available for all my children at the same time: The pool. After that, they have something for the oldest, but the youngest 2 cannot be there. They have something for the youngest two, but the oldest is not welcome. What is the point of bringing your children to a "family" place, but they cannot participate. Yes, I have complained, but yesterday, my husband and I discussed the Y and felt that the children were safer at Kings Island or the beach (No lifeguards) than they were at the Y. Sad commentary on the state of the YMCA.
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