Lifestyle
In-Laws ‘Scoffed and Laughed’ at Parents’ Request They Install a Pool Fence. Now, the Parents Refuse to Visit
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A woman on Reddit says she and her husband are beginning to feel like they’re “overreacting” for asking his parents to install a fence around their pool
The couple are parents to a 5-month-old boy and are uncomfortable taking their child anywhere that could be unsafe
But his parents “scoffed and laughed” when they said they couldn’t bring the child to their home until safety precautions were made
A couple says they’ve been made to feel like they’re “overreacting” by their own parents after they shared that they weren’t comfortable bringing their 5-month-old to a home with no fence around the pool.
In a post shared to Reddit, an anonymous woman writes that her husband’s parents have a pool at their house.
“Even though our son is just 5 months old and not crawling or walking, my husband has voiced to his parents that when he is walking/crawling, we wouldn’t be visiting them due to them not wanting to install a pool fence,” she writes. “We of course said they could come to our house for any visits. My husband brought this up to them in advance so they knew and could plan any future pool gate installation.”
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Swimming Pool with a Fence
She continues in the post: “They made us feel like we were overreacting and overthinking. And said we’re like that because we are first time parents. They basically scoffed and laughed.”
The woman adds that her in-laws “aren’t in the best financial position, so they might not have the funds” for a pool fence — adding, “in which case, they didn’t need to gaslight and make fun of our ‘parenting choices’ and could have just said no we are not planning to put one up.”
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Others on Reddit say the couple isn’t overreacting at all, with one commenter writing, “A child can drown in two inches of water. Good for OP’s husband for drawing a safety boundary regarding the pool. Too bad the in-laws are scoffing at the necessity of a pool fence.”
Adds another commenter: “Nobody is advocating that you install a pool fence or any other equipment and just walk away and leave the baby to their own devices but every single preventative step gives a distracted adult an extra few seconds. You can’t be absolutely vigilant 24/7 and those extra seconds can make all the difference.”
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