bad experience at Woodlands Swimming Complex

lbeena

New Member
I would like to share my very bad experience at Woodlands Swimming Complex yesterday evening so other parents can exercise extra care when they visit the facility.

My husband and I brought my 3 year old daughter to Woodlands Swimming Complex in the evening around 7pm yesterday. When my husband accompanied my daughter up the stairs of the play structure (in the toddler's pool) with the intention of letting her slide down safely before going down the stairs himself, his attention on my daughter was disrupted by one of the staff/lifeguard on duty. During the split second that my husband turned to see what the commotion was about, my daughter slipped, knocked her head against the slide, and fell down the slide into the pool.

When my husband went to pick her up himself after rushing down the stairs because the supposedly serious at work lifeguard failed to notice that she has fallen down, she was in shock and began crying shortly after. As we carried her to the side to calm her down, the lifeguard who blew his whistle at my husband previously came over to start defending himself, stating that adults were not allowed on the slide. Not once did he apologise for what happened nor check if my daughter was ok although he claimed what he did was for safety reasons. When we reasoned that my husband had not intended to slide down himself but was merely making sure that my daughter could enjoy herself in a safe environment, he continued to insist that adults are not allowed on the structure as it will slow down the traffic when children are trying to have fun.

My husband and I are perfectly reasonable parents who understand that when we go to swimming complexes, the management will not be liable for any injuries and so, we choose to supervise her ourselves, as was the case last evening. As such, I do not understand why the lifeguard had to stop my husband from supervising and in turn, causing the accident which could have been prevented totally. He argued that what he did was for safety reasons but obviously, it is not in the least bit safe for toddlers to climb up and slide down all by themselves.

The signboard next to the toddler's pool states that adults are not allowed on the slide, but my husband did not go down the slide himself, nor was he intending to. In fact, the signboard also stated that the pool is only meant for children below the 1.2m in height and that adult supervision is required. How can someone reasonably expect children below the height of 1.2m to climb up and slide down a wet and slippery structure by themselves and not even allow adults to be there to ensure their safety? Either there is something majorly wrong with the safety guidelines of the swimming complex or their staff training is severely lacking for their staff to not understand their own safety guidelines.

My daughter was crying and not responsive for at least 2 hours after the incident. Although there were no major physical injuries, can you imagine how much shock it takes for a usually cheerful and talkative child to not be able to respond or refuse to talk for 2 whole hours? The swimming complex facility is supposed to encourage citizens to be healthy and promote family bonding. Last evening, however, has turned out to be a very traumatic experience for my family and until now, I shudder to imagine how much worse the consequences could have been.

I have written to Singapore Sports Council to complain about their lack of clear safety guidelines and/or lack of staff training and am waiting for their explanation on the matter. Hopefully, they can come up with better safety guidelines to provide a safer environment for children.
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