# IMHO If you can't hold the pooh, then stay outta the pool! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 21, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928 "2012-07-21T05:07:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/21 "2012-07-22T02:48:50Z")
A lifeguard recounted to me how she blew the whistle (hah!) on a mother who was with her very young child who happened to be sporting one of those swim diapers. Kids in diapers are not allowed in the big pool and the mother was told that she would have to keep junior in the kiddy pool. Mom argues a bit, cops an attitude and then with a “Fine, have it your way,” takes the kid out and then returns with him minus the swim diaper and clad only in his bathing suit. Of course the kid takes a crap in the pool, mother reports to a different lifeguard that darling had an accident, scoops up her belongings and leaves the pool area without showing a hint of remorse. The pool had to be closed down and I told the lifeguard she should have followed the mother out and the club should have revoked her membership. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/22 "2012-07-22T03:09:50Z")
…I hope she scooped up the poop with her belongings… ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/23 "2012-07-22T03:25:28Z")
Can’t we just all rename it the “poohl” and get along? ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/24 "2012-07-22T03:56:12Z")
…I really don’t think Winnie or Piglet have anything to do with it. Yes, they might play Pooh Sticks, but that has absolutely nothing to do with sticks of poo. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/25 "2012-07-22T04:08:13Z")
Hey 6Impossible yadda yadd- I am starting to worry about your knowledge of pooping in pools 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/26 "2012-07-22T04:32:34Z")
Here’s a poll I started a couple of years ago about peeing in the pool: > **[Do you pee in the pool?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=550480)** > > I’ve recently started going to water aerobics. Last night during the class I really had to pee and I thought to myself “too bad I’m not a kid, I could just pee right here”. But instead I got out and went to the change room to use the facilities but... ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/27 "2012-07-22T04:41:25Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > And whatever you do, don’t get your ‘Christopher Robin’ out and wave it around. “Pathetic,” he said. “That’s what it is. Pathetic.” ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/28 "2012-07-22T05:36:41Z")
> [@Rhaegar](#): > > Seriously, people have to stop taking their kids swimming in public pools until they are fully potty trained. It is inconsiderate to everyone else You seem to not realize how inconsiderate aholes passing for “parents” is all the rage. Welcome to the 21st century. > [@](#): > > I suppose that I cannot blame the parents completely because the diaper manufacturing companies make “diapers for swimming,” You’re right; it’s not the parents’ fault for putting kids into a pool who aren’t potty trained; it’s those darn companies. Likewise, it’s not THEIR fault that their babies/toddlers/etc cry and scream in theaters/restaurants/etc etc etc. It’s…uh…someone else’s fault. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/29 "2012-07-22T07:28:12Z")
> [@oreally](#): > > You seem to not realize how inconsiderate aholes passing for “parents” is all the rage. Welcome to the 21st century. > > You’re right; it’s not the parents’ fault for putting kids into a pool who aren’t potty trained; it’s those darn companies. Likewise, it’s not THEIR fault that their babies/toddlers/etc cry and scream in theaters/restaurants/etc etc etc. It’s…uh…someone else’s fault. > > :smack: Strangely the parents are not being inconsiderate so much as they think their kids is such a _precious snowflake_ that the rules should not apply to their kid. If any other kid poops, pees or even sneezes in the pool, they freak out. When their precious snowflake does it, “it’s only natural”. It’s the same thing that makes them not get their _precious snowflakes_ their innoculations, as they expect every other parent to do so, they protecting their p\*recious snowflakes \*while also protecting them for even the imagined dangers of childhood shots.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/30 "2012-07-22T07:35:10Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Hey 6Impossible yadda yadd- I am starting to worry about your knowledge of pooping in pools 🙂 _When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it._ With thanks to A.A. Milne of course.. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/31 "2012-07-22T14:09:06Z")
I never understood the idea of “swim diapers”. What the heck difference does it make if the material covering the body is bathing suit material or diaper material? If a kid pees or poops in either one in the pool, the result is the same. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/32 "2012-07-22T15:01:53Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > I never understood the idea of “swim diapers”. What the heck difference does it make if the material covering the body is bathing suit material or diaper material? If a kid pees or poops in either one in the pool, the result is the same. The purpose of swim diapers is to contain the poop. Unlike bathing suits, they have strong elastic around the leg and waist openings and unlike diapers , they don’t absorb so much water that they weigh ten pounds. That said, even if swim diapers existed when my kids were young, I would have just kept my kids out of actual pools with other people, although I probably would have used them in my kids’ wading pool. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/33 "2012-07-22T15:47:35Z")
I applaud the OP for taking a brave stand against pooping in the pool. It won’t be a popular one, but it’s a gutsy one. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_I\_Am](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sam\_I\_Am](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_I_Am)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/34 "2012-07-23T01:47:45Z")
> [@oreally](#): > > You seem to not realize how inconsiderate aholes passing for “parents” is all the rage. Welcome to the 21st century. > > You’re right; it’s not the parents’ fault for putting kids into a pool who aren’t potty trained; it’s those darn companies. Likewise, it’s not THEIR fault that their babies/toddlers/etc cry and scream in theaters/restaurants/etc etc etc. It’s…uh…someone else’s fault. > > :smack: Well I put my non-potty trained kids in the pool in part because the pool has baby & toddler classes and encourages them to be there. They seem to think, as I do, that the occasional need to deal with an accident is worth getting all those kids comfortable with water and swimming at an early age. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/35 "2012-07-23T03:55:36Z")
> [@oreally](#): > > You seem to not realize how inconsiderate aholes passing for “parents” is all the rage. Welcome to the 21st century.\ They give people a massive shot of entitlement in the delivery room, don’tcha know. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/36 "2012-07-23T04:34:36Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > _Someone_ had to do[it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th_aBzrV37M)… [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV-3wV7gfo8) also. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/37 "2012-07-24T03:39:09Z")
> [@Mdcastleman](#): > > A bus driver talking to my mom shared this ancedote. > > A bunch of mentally challenged teenagers was on an excursion to a local pool. One of them had been sick but his parents sent him anyway. You guessed it, massive diahrrea in the pool. There was no way they could pick it out so they had to drain the entire pool… Huh - I would have thought that between the normal filtering (which removes all sorts of stuff), and a heavy shock of pool chemicals, the pool would be safe to open in a few hours or a day or so at the longest. That said, yeah, diarrhea in a pool is nasty, and quite literally [dangerous](http://www.kidsgrowth.com/resources/articledetail.cfm?id=1215) (link to story about an Atlanta-area water park). ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/38 "2012-07-24T09:19:27Z")
> [@Rhaegar](#): > > This is in addition to an episode when we were in Maui last year, and we had to vacate the Marriott’s swimming pool for hours while they cleaned up another pooh in the pool “accidents.” Swimming in the hotel pool in Maui is like going to a five-star restaurant and ordering a bologna sandwich. No sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928/39 "2012-07-25T15:52:04Z")
Between the chemicals and the bodily fluids, I really don’t find public pools appealing at all. I’d rather swim in a lake with all the brain-eating microorganisms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imho-if-you-cant-hold-the-pooh-then-stay-outta-the-pool/628928.md?page=1)