So, we were supposed to go camping this past weekend, but when it started to snow on Thursday, we (wisely) re-thought our plans and booked in for a weekend at the Canmore Inn and Suites in the shadow of the Three Sisters in beautiful Canmore, Alberta.
I tell ya: Canmore must be the world capital of hockey tournaments, because every time we’ve stayed in a hotel there, we are always plagued by hordes of loud, rowdy young boys running wild in hallways, stairwells, elevators and pools, all in matching warmup suits proudly boasting their membership in AAA hockey teams. This time it was the ‘Rustlers’ and I have no idea where they hail from, but presumably it is within driving distance of Canmore.
Anyway, before I go any further I should say I have no real beef with hockey itself or hockey players or indeed hockey families. And perhaps it’s unfair to pick on hockey teams: I mean, maybe a group of families all in the same baseball or soccer team would be the same. Heck, maybe the Rustlers are actually a ringette or lacrosse team, and not a hockey team at all.
The hotel we stayed in is popular with teams and families alike: the rooms are comfortable, reasonably priced and clean, a very good breakfast buffet is included in the room rates and there is a huge waterslide for the kids. Basically the waterslide is the real reason we stay there, though:
Especially on a cold, cloudy weekend with on-and-off snow and rain, having a facility like this for the kids to play in is a real boon. Except when a large group of eleven-year-old boys takes over. When they decide it would be fun to climb up the slide, or stand halfway down and block the other kids’ way, or climb up the metal struts or just stand at the top and harangue the other children, shouting “go! GO!” at them. Then it is really not fun. And when they all converge midway down the slide and splash water over the sides and into the hot tub below, drenching the mom who happens to be trying to enjoy it? Then they cross the line.
That’s what happened pretty much every time we tried to enjoy the waterslide facility at the hotel this weekend. Now let me just point out that I am usually pretty tolerant of other peoples’ kids. I get that the boys are away on a fun weekend and that they’re pretty hyper because they all get to hang out together and there’s this wicked waterslide and all. I even get the temptation to go up the slide. I do.
All I ask is that the parents supervising these children take some level of responsibility. Unfortunately, the two dads in the pool during our first encounter with these boys did not say a single word to them. And I’m not asking them to yell at their kids and have them walk respectfully past me tugging at their forelocks – but perhaps they could have reminded them that there were other, younger, children who wanted to enjoy the facility as well. Perhaps they could have pointed out to them that grownups in hot tubs don’t appreciate having bucketsful of water dumped on their heads. Perhaps they could have remembered that we had paid just as much money to stay there as they had, and my girls deserved a chance to have a fun time in the pool as well.
Instead, they watched their sons harass my daughters until they were too afraid to go back on the waterslide and just crouched on the pool deck wrapped in towels looking longingly at it. Then, the dads got up and left – my oldest flashed me a brilliant smile and gave her sister the thumbs-up sign: the boys are leaving! But alas, no. The fathers left their sons unattended in the pool area.
Oh well: too bad, so sad. Good thing I have experience as a substitute teacher, because I soon set the boys straight on the finer points of common courtesy and then everyone used the slide equally. My oldest was mortified by my little chat with the boys (it consisted of me saying, “boys: there are other children who want to use the slide, too. Please let them come down as well”) but my youngest cheered me on and soon everyone was playing happily.
My question is this: why did it have to be me who got involved? That really pissed me off. First of all: those fathers were beyond negligent when they left their young sons alone and unsupervised in the pool area – these kids were definitely not even twelve years old. What if something had happened and there was no adult there? And the thing is that they knew their boys were engaging in all kinds of potentially dangerous stunts, from running on the wet pool deck to crashing into each other on the slide to climbing the metal struts on the outside of the slide (yes, really!) And they got up and left. In addition, their kids were being completely inconsiderate of the other children.
Grrr…
Kath, you are a saint. I would have lost my cool waaaay before those “dads” left the pool area…
I agree that it should not have been your job to have to discipline those kids, but I’m glad that you said something – I think it’s good for children to know that other parents are aware of their behaviour, and that they might be called out for their poor choices and actions, even if their own parents are slacking, or absent.
(And I can’t believe those fathers left all those boys alone at the pool! Wow.)
I would have said something to the father’s (first) probably. There was a similar incident at just our ‘home’ park and the mother of a little boy and a father of another little boy were busy reading and their kids were almost bullying my little (but solid) 3.5 year old. The boys were about 6 or 7 (I’m guessing) and I just decided to go over and ask the parents how long they were going to ignore their children’s deplorable behavior, and if they had any intention of correcting it? They were aghast I had spoken to them so harshly about their children, but really, like you said, you and your girls have as much right to enjoy the slide as any of the other kids.
I’m very happy to hear that you set the ‘older’ kids straight, and your girls had a chance to enjoy their vacation too! WTG!
Unbelievable behaviour from dads! I would have definitely said something, just as you did too. I have said things to kids at playgrounds lots of times, as my little is usually the youngest there at times.
I am a hockey mom, but wholeheartedly agree with you, Katherine. I’ve been the stick in the mud supervising what ended up being the whole team, plus their older siblings who were actually the loudest and worst behaved, in the play structure. The rest of the parents? Not sure what they were up to. But when the kids needed to be reminded about being careful around the younger ones, they listened. They should be allowed to have fun, but not at anyone else’s expense. And I was pleased to hear, after the fact, that my son was not one of the ones ejected from the waterslides or playing mini-sticks in the hallways – maybe there is an ounce of good judgment and respect for others in him 🙂
No, not a stick-in-the-mud…a good mom. It’s our job as parents to help our children behave well in every situation – and that includes being reasonably considerate of other guests and not treating the entire hotel like your own personal property.
So from us non-hockey-hotel-visiting families…THANK YOU!
We are a hockey family and I can tell you that that happens all the time. Parents think the hotel is a free for all at tournaments. It drives me nuts.
I expect the same appropriate behaviour from my kid where ever we are. Sure I want him to have fun, but I also won’t allow him to act like a dink. I tell him that playing on a rep hockey team is a privilege and that “rep” means he represents the town we live in where ever he plays.
So I guess that makes me the stick-in-the-mud-mom…