Excuse me, is that a baby ruth in the pool?
Posted
August 1, 2007 at
3:05 pm by
Jessica
This mom is kiddy-whipped or crazy or both.
Get this — some self-absorbed, child-centric, child-centered, child-brained mother actually thinks that it’s her toddlers civil right to pee and shit in the pool and if people don’t like it, they should just eat his butt squirts:
An Akron mother and the Fair Housing Advocates Association have filed civil rights complaints against her condo association, saying the group is prohibiting infants and toddlers from the swimming pool because of fears over unwanted pee and poop.
The complaints were filed with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission this month after Suzanne Malcom was told twice this year that she wasn’t allowed to bring her 1-year-old son Lucas to the outdoor pool at the Seven Stories East Condominiums on East Market Street.
”As a parent, it’s my responsibility to defend his rights,” she said Monday afternoon during an interview in her small, fourth-floor porch that overlooks the pool. Read the rest…
Tags: Lucas-Malcom, Ohio, Ohio-civil-right-commission, pool, Social Issues, Suzanne-Malcom |
19 Responses to “Excuse me, is that a baby ruth in the pool?”
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1. Prescott said:
August 1, 2007 @ 3:35 pm
Come on, this woman’s 19-month-old boy is potty trained? If that’s true, she should write a book about her method.
2. Petulant Pixie said:
August 1, 2007 @ 4:30 pm
He was wearing a swim diaper though. I JUST took my 27 month old (who is nowhere near potty trained) swimming today in a pool with tons of other babies and toddlers, all wearing swim diapers. Zero turds in the water. I don’t think this lady is crazy, she just wants her kid to be able to go swimming. Am I crazy? I don’t see the problem with her.
3. Jessica said:
August 1, 2007 @ 4:56 pm
The pool probably doesn’t have lifeguards either.
The real annoyance for me, is that this woman lives in housing with a strict HOA and is claiming that it’s a civil rights issue. People have to stop suing for being offended. The kid will live and probably be better off knowing that the world doesn’t revolve around him!
Now, if it was a public pool, I’m with you.
4. Petulant Pixie said:
August 1, 2007 @ 5:21 pm
Well….I see what you’re saying, but I reserve the right to still be cranky about it. The kid doesn’t live in the condo complex, it’s the grandmother who lives there. The kid visited and was denied access to the pool. No kids under three, I think it said.
My parents live in a retirement community in Arizona and while a LOT of the old people there LOVE it when people’s grandkids come to visit, a bunch of them (the ones in power ironically) don’t. There has been a battle with their board over kids allowed in the pool or on the putt putt course (what is a putt putt course for, if not kids??? Do elderly people really yearn to putt?? The ONLY people I’ve seen there were kids, but there was a debate about whether or not to allow them). For ME, I see my kids’ side of the issue, and my parents’ side of the issue. My kids want to go swimming at grandma and grandpa’s and my parents want to show off their grandkids. So, when we’re all stuck in the middle with things like: CHILD SWIMMING HOURS ARE NOW FROM 11:30-1:15 (did I mention this was Arizona???) MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND THE SECOND AND FOURTH FRIDAY OF THE MONTH, it sucks.
I don’t know whether this woman has a LAW SUIT, but it did say that the particular condo complex has been in trouble many times before and maybe the grandma is just sick of it. Maybe you’re right, she should just move, but I also think it’s sucky for people to be driven from their homes because of rules that a temporary board determines. The board can change, but the lady isn’t gonna live forever and her kid is only little once, you know? By the time they get new board people in, she could be dead. I’m on their side on this one, lol.
5. Jessica said:
August 1, 2007 @ 5:24 pm
I have to disagree here. After reading that article, the HOA policy doesn’t make sense. As the writer pointed out, banning kids under 3 from being in a pool because it’s a health and safety issue is a moot point - anyone can take a whizz or poop in the pool, really. If they’re wearing the appropriate attire, why not welcome them? If having kids in a pool is a health and safety issue, then all of us parents are doomed!
This HOA has a clear history of exclusion and prejudice against families with children. All she wants is equal access to the pool, which is fair enough. She’s not saying her toddler should be able to frolic naked through the pool and then dump a big doody on the diving board.
6. Petulant Pixie said:
August 1, 2007 @ 6:18 pm
Yup. Shake hands, nice to be on the same side with ya, Jess.
7. Jessica said:
August 1, 2007 @ 6:32 pm
That was the bastard “Jessica”. LOL. Seriously, Jessica’s pop up on here all the time. Popular name I guess.
But I’ll still shake hands with ya.
8. "I prefer born out of wedlock" Jessica said:
August 1, 2007 @ 6:34 pm
Is “bastard” still a viable insult these days?
9. Petulant Pixie said:
August 1, 2007 @ 7:36 pm
LOL, no. Pretty much everyone’s a bastard these days. Except my kids, they were born in wedlock. Except in the opinion of my father-in-law, since dh and I didn’t have a Catholic ceremony, he doesn’t recognize the marriage, so to HIM my kids are bastards. See? Applies to everyone.
10. Allison said:
August 3, 2007 @ 1:26 pm
Sorry to take the opposition on this one, but I agree with the HOA. Look, HOA’s suck royally, but rules are rules, if you don’t like it, go swim at the YMCA. I’m sure they have a “Mommy and Me Class”. Also, the mom was living with the grandma for a year, the article says, not just visiting for the day, so she should have known the rules. (Plus, I agree with Prescott: a potty-trained 1 yar old??? If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you) And as a mom, I’ve put my kids in swim diapers, and though they’ve never had a “Baby Ruth” floating in the pool, we have had a “beef stew” moment! I dry-heaved first, then plucked them out, dumped the pool out, and bathed them inside. That’s not even counting whether or not those swim diapers can even hold in pee, considering it’ll probably be diluted. I can’t think of one adult who would just laugh it off if they found themselves surfacing after a perfect 10 dive only to realize they’ll now got a foul-smelling layer of crap to wash off. If it’s hot at her apartment, then why not sponge the baby off in a cool bathtub?
It’s one thing being pooped/peed/puked on by your own tiny infant, but someone else’s kid???
I just threw up in my mouth a little……
11. Jessica said:
August 4, 2007 @ 7:37 am
I agree with this. If you don’t want rules, don’t buy into a housing complex with an HOA, pure and simple.
It’s like someone who complains about a cars features and then goes out and buys that car and can’t understand why the features didn’t change after they bought it.
12. Petulant Pixie said:
August 4, 2007 @ 9:03 am
The situation with my parent’s HOA was that they agreed to everything when they bought the house. But, the board members change and over time the rules changed. When they bought their house, there was a rule about the height of trees and bushes that could be planted (so nobody’s view of the mountains were blocked). 5 years later, that changed and now there are tall trees (as tall as you can get in Arizona) in just about everyone’s backyard and the “mountain views” are gone. Back when they first moved in, the kids’ hours at the pool were the same as the regular hours. Now sometimes it’s like twice a week for the two hottest hours of the day, and other times it’s every day in the morning, and sometimes it’s in the evening–the board changes the hours willy nilly. My parents don’t want to sell their house, look for another one, pack, move, unpack at their age when they can just be active in the community and get new board members voted in over time, KWIM?
13. "I prefer born out of wedlock" Jessica said:
August 4, 2007 @ 9:57 am
Good point, Pixie. The article clearly states that the rule banning kids under the age of 3 from the pool was enacted after this woman and her child moved in there. And as for the suggestion that people shouldn’t live in places with an HOA if they don’t like HOAs, if you live in a multiunit dwelling, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have an HOA. Not everyone prefers (or can afford) single family homes in the suburbs.
14. Jessica said:
August 4, 2007 @ 10:25 am
Yes, but you can certainly pick one that is more kid friendly than others. My mother lives in a very strict HOA community, which happens to have a lot of kids and be very kid friendly. And HOA fees can be quite expensive, so I don’t buy that you can’t find one that suits your lifestyle.
And, FTR, adult-only HOA communities are legal where I live.
15. "I prefer born out of wedlock" Jessica said:
August 4, 2007 @ 10:41 am
I understand what you’re saying, Jessica, but as it says in the article, the non-child friendly policy was enacted AFTER they moved in. And since this woman is living with her grandmother and is a full-time student, I doubt she has the financial resources to move out at this point.
16. Susan said:
August 4, 2007 @ 11:32 pm
I don’t really care enough about the mom’s plight - buy a baby pool, for cryin’ out loud. But did anyone else get a kick out of the photo of little Lucas, peering down at the pool through the iron bars of the terrace, like he was in jail, or ostracized for all of eternity? I just love the media.
17. Allison said:
August 5, 2007 @ 11:47 am
[quote comment="102570"]I don’t really care enough about the mom’s plight - buy a baby pool, for cryin’ out loud. But did anyone else get a kick out of the photo of little Lucas, peering down at the pool through the iron bars of the terrace, like he was in jail, or ostracized for all of eternity? I just love the media.[/quote]
Ha! How did I miss that? You’re right on the money Susan.
P.S. After closely examining that pic, doesn’t that iron balcony look a little dangerous for a toddler. Wouldn’t one of those “Baby Railing Nets” be helpful? http://www.babyant.com/bh043104.html
Oh wait. That’s right. She’s waiting for him to trip and fall, get his head stuck between the rails, and then sue the HOA again. Stay tuned…..
18. John Rohan said:
August 5, 2007 @ 6:34 pm
Petulant Pixie:
Even if the condo unit allowed babies with swim diapers and the diapers were 100% effective (which, of course, they aren’t), what’s to prevent this mom from still suing? She can still claim “age discrimination” because the condo is forcing her baby to wear swim diapers, but not everyone else. It sounds crazy, but if you think, like this mom does, that babies deserve “equal rights” then you need to go all the way with it.
I also discuss this here: http://shieldofachilles.blogspot.com/2007/08/back-from-vacation.html
19. DrBookgrrl said:
August 5, 2007 @ 7:44 pm
“It sounds crazy, but if you think, like this mom does, that babies deserve “equal rights” then you need to go all the way with it.”
What you said doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, sure, she could sue, but there’s no case for it. By equal rights, doesn’t she mean equal access? She’s not asking for the baby to have a parking spot of his own or anything like that, after all.