I was going to ask,

[SeaCat]

I was going to ask, how stupid can a person be? Then I remembered a quote my father likes to use. Never under estimate human stupidity.

My wife and I went down to the beach today. We had decided that it would be fun to walk along the beach and look at the waves. The waves were running at between five and seven feet. It was nice to look at but I wasn't planning on getting in the water.

As we returned along the beach I couldn't believe my eyes. Here was a couple laying on the beach and allowing their kids to play in the waves. These kids were maybe ten years old. The waves were taller than either of these kids and yet the parents were laying back and reading, they weren't even watching their kids.

I couldn't stop myself. I had to say something. I walked over and asked these parents if they knew where their kids were. They stated that they did even as they looked around in a panic. They finally saw them over 100 feet away down the beach.

The father turned to me and asked me why I was so upset. I told him about the dangers of the waves and the possibilities of Rip Currents. (I didn't see any there but that didn't mean they weren't there.) He told me his kids were plenty safe, they knew how to swim.

Now I have lived near the water most of my life. I have been a diver for more than ten years. I have been swimming and diving in conditions worse than what we had today, but I am an adult and I know how to deal with the conditions. These kids didn't.

I offered to take the father out in the water. I offered to take him for a swim in the conditions he so blithely allowed his kids to play in.

He looked at the conditions and declined my offer, and yet he cursed me out for interfering. He called me every name in the book because I had dared to say something. He yelled at me, he screamed at me. Finally the Life Gaurd noticed this and came in to see what was happening.

The Lifegaurd roundly cursed the idiot of a father even as the father complained about interfering people.

Finally the Lifegaurd ended the argument. He informed the parents that the entire incident would be documented, (I was more than willing to sign the documentation) so if his kids were swept out to sea and drowned the parents wouldn't be able to sue. In fact because they had been warned they would be held liable.

He finally called his kids in.

My wife and I left.

What was this guy and his wife thinking?

Cat

 

[rgraham666]

Sigh. Humans.

 

[EmeraldKitten]

They were thinking: that they didn't have to watch their kids... they were on the beach, enjoying themselves, and their kids were amused by something other than them.. and that they were getting a break from being parents. Evidentally. At least, that's how I'd've taken it.

That's like the past couple days, driving through town, I've noticed this house that sits pretty close to Main street... It's a younger mother, with probably an 18 month old - 2 year old... and he plays in the yard. He toddles off down the sidewalk to get to his toys.
There's no fence- and kids will just take off on ya, plus its Main street/Rt. 40, and sometimes when there's an accident on I-70, all the freeway traffic detours through town.
Just one street over, one of the guys in my class was riding his bike, and was hit by a car. The driver was having a seizure and attempting to drive himself to the hospital. The guy was killed.
You never know how drivers are going to act, or what can happen. There's no way in hell I'd let my toddler play 4 ft away from traffic.
And worse- yesterday, she was up on the porch! Had he taken off, there's no way she could have gotten to him in time. It makes me nervous driving past there.
What's that parent thinking?

 

[MaeveoSliabh]

That it's easier than selling them to gypsies...