Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture, please? Hint: ocean safety!!! The 2 boys are playing too close to the water.
The swell and rip current were strong yesterday. As soon as I saw the kids near the water I was overcome with dread. I looked away for less than a minute, and when I looked back up they were both under the water, with only their heads poking out for air. Their grandma frantically ran down to save them and yell at them. They managed to get out of the water by themselves, without grandma's help. They walked with her to their mom, away from the water. I felt relieved. Then after a few minutes they were back in the water again, this time venturing a bit further from the shore in their soaked clothes..... They were in the perfect position to get sucked out to sea. I couldn't take the stress of their recklessness anymore. I got up to leave. While passing grandma, I said "they shouldn't be in the water today. The surf is big and there are dangerous rip currents that could pull them out to sea." "No English, only Russian," she replied. I attempted to communicate again. Pointing to the boys I said, "water, BAD." But she didn't understand that either. At this point, their mom was standing guard at the water's edge, but she probably wouldn't be much help of 1 of the kids got sucked out. And she likely could have needed saving herself. Then I left with a bad feeling. I drove to the grocery store, parked. But I couldn't get those kids off my mind. So I called the hotel, where they were likely guests. I explained the situation to the person who answered the phone. Her response was pretty lame, "sounds like bad parenting to me...." "Well, they obviously don't understand how dangerous the ocean is around here. It would be great if you could send someone down to explain it to them." I had the sense that she didn't understand the dangers of the ocean either. And if the Monterey Peninsula is going to spend money attracting visitors to our area, it should also spend money on education and signage with pictures on ocean safety. #oceansafety #tourism #montereypeninsula #surfing #marinabeach #worldmarkmarina #california
