|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
An Auckland father of three is
outraged that he and his wife were told to stop filming their 1-year-old son
going down a slide by attendants at a Mt Albert swimming pool. Alistair Hayward contacted the
Herald yesterday in response to an article about a mother in Canterbury who was
dressing her 16-month-old by the side of a pool when an attendant told her
child nudity was banned. He said the incident happened at the Philips Aquatic
Centre in March last year. "I got my wife to videotape
my 1-year-old son going down the slide for the first time, while I held his
hand, and two lifeguards rushed up to us to tell us we weren't allowed to
videotape him." Asked why, they told Mr Hayward it
related to "privacy issues". He said one of the lifeguards then
told him he hated telling people they weren't allowed to film their kids. Mr Hayward said there were no
signs at the pool banning video cameras. "To make things even more
pathetic, they had security cameras all over the place. Surely if they were
concerned over privacy issues, security cameras would be in breach of that
too." Mr Hayward said it was political
correctness gone mad. "I could understand their policy if there was a
dirty old man filming random kids ... but I was holding my son's hand, my
wife was filming us and our other two kids were nearby ... It shouldn't have
raised an eyebrow. "I've now missed the
opportunity to film my son going down a slide for the first time." My Hayward said the pool had
apologised for the incident and sent him free passes. Centre manager Paul Kite said the
two lifeguards, who were later spoken to by management, had taken the pool's
policy too far. "We do have a policy that if you want to film or take
pictures you are meant to [seek] permission. However, that rule is
flexible." He said Mr Hayward should have
been allowed to continue filming his son that day. "It was inappropriate that
they were approached and they should have been allowed to continue." He said the aquatic centre, in the
grounds of Mt Albert Grammar School, did not have an issue with parents
dressing their young children near the pools. |
