Thursday, April 8

Lesson #94 - It Pays To Be "THAT Parent"

This past Sunday was a day free of The Babe's 10am swim lesson (to see what we did on Saturday, go here). Thanks to spring break, we got the chance to stay at home and relax with The Man all day...it was nice! The Sunday before was a different story. While I always enjoy attending swim lessons, i was even MORE excited for The Babe's third class - because I actually remembered to bring my nice digital camera to take pictures!!

About half way through the class, some raging-hormonal-very angry-manager lady came running towards all of the parents who were taking pictures (I'd say there were 5 out of the class of 12) and yelled that we were not allowed to take pictures of the kids during class.

HOLD UP - WHAT?!?!

Of course you KNOW I just had to speak up. We've been taking pictures for the past 3 friggin' weeks...why are you just now telling us all about this so-called "policy"?!

The parents stopped their photo-taking (I managed to get a few more while crazy-lady wasn't looking) and after the class, The Man went up to crazy-lady to inquire about the policy. He asked why he'd never heard about it - no one in the class was ever informed of it before - and wanted her to point it out, section and line, for our review. Crazy-lady said she didn't know where it could be found, but that she only enforces the rules...though she promised to do some research and have it available for parents at this coming swim lesson on Sunday.

Thankfully, the aquatics director nipped the issue in the bum BEFORE the swim lesson on Sunday...the below email was sent to all parents (as a BCC - good move!) who have kids in the Sunday parent-and-me swim lesson...ENJOY!!

Good Evening,

My name is {embarrassed aquatics director} and I am with {your fabulous community rec center}. I write today to follow up on an incident that occurred during your recent swim class in regards to the policy on photography in our facilities. First and foremost, please allow me to apologize on behalf of the manager who incorrectly informed and enforced our photography policy with your class!

While {this rec center} and our agency [as a whole] takes reasonable efforts to prevent the exploitation of children and families partaking in our parks, this photography policy was taken out of context by the manager. We have taken corrective measures with all of our managers to prevent such an experience from occurring in the future. In short, PLEASE enjoy taking pictures and making memories of your children in their swimming classes. We look forward to them "growing up" in our learn-to-swim programs!

If you have any questions or concerns in regards to this or any area of our facility, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Happy Swimming
Embarrassed Aquatics Director


Oh yeah...that is right...hang your head in shame!!!

Not get a shot of this...
...you gotta be KIDDING me!!

11 comments:

Dee at Pedestrian Palate said...

That would not make any sense. It's not like they are minding government secrets at the local rec center. Glad you got the OK to snap.

Anonymous said...

That picture is tooooo cute...and even worth all the hassle. What an idiot! All parents were there with their children, so certainly you weren't "exploiting" anyone's children! On another note, I wonder what she'd do if there were a REAL problem!?

Shell said...

What a darling pic!

Mrs. Plank said...

She is precious!!! Makes me want to sign Boops up for swimming . . .

Kristen said...

That is a Kodak moment if I ever saw one! Good thing the mgr didn't confiscate your camera!

Anonymous said...

Lame. Water is an awesome photo opportunity. I thin you should get a 007 camera in your sunglasses and keep shooting.

Jesslyn said...

"You can have my camera when you pry it from my cold dead fingers!!"

Vanessa said...

What a sweet picture!! Glad your husband asked some questions and SO glad they owned up to it in that great email! Good for the director! Hope crazy lady got a little talking-to! ;-)

Mindy said...

Yep. If you can't capture adorable memories such as this of your own kid, what's the point? Good for them for admitting their error and apologizing!

Cyndy Bush said...

I'm glad you stuck to your guns! Some things are worth fighting for...like that picture!

Baby Sweetness said...

We had our first swim lesson this week where my hubby took pictures (OF COURSE!). On our way out, I noticed a sign on the door of the rec center saying - no cameras / camera phones / etc. Ooopppss... But then I decided - they don't mean us! they mean don't take exploitive butt shots of the people sweating on the machines. (hubby made sure to tell me that he'd gotten a bunch of those too... ;))

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