My first thought is clueless.

My second thought is pervert.

You HAVE to tell him to get his hands off your kid in similar fashion to how you flogged that guy at your shop. Think mama grizzly protecting her cubs type of demeanor.

I have reacted and in some cases over-reacted to things like this and I gotta tell you Fred...I have not regretted ANY action I have taken.

"What the hell are you doing? Give my kid his ball back....."

take it from there. I agree, too many people nowadays figure you won't say anything about it- out of Political Correctness or fear. I've said as much more for less.


rjp

pull him aside and explain to him he will get beat down, nice and polite like.

I would have just said something like, ''Hey, easy around the Kid !''or something like that. The guy obviously reverted to thirteen in his mind.

And take it from there. Most people will back up at that point. If he sounds off.....Game on!

don't leave your 6 year old alone in a pool with an adult? kids always wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time and can get hurt.
if the guy is a dick head, well then he can deal with me instead of me watching him messing with my kid

You should have immediately taken your kid out of the pool and run to your hotel room. I suggest barricading yourself in, and then building a safe fort with the mattress and pillows.

Whatever you do, you absolutely don't want to show your kid that he should ever stand up for himself, or give him the impression that he shouldn't be a complete wuss when he grows up.


Are you really the same guy who let off at a customer recently?

Yes that would set me off but you did the right thing.

Jerks like that are not worth the trouble. You also provided an excellent example to your son. Well done.

I agree, watching daddy get hauled away with assualt charges would be a great lesson for a 6 year old boy . This was the wrong time, and wrong place . It would have all been caught on camera, with 20 witnesses or so.
I don't think I was capable of having a conversation with the guy, One smart comment , and It would have elevated quickly .

See you know yourself then and that's probably a good thing.

intervening doesn't have to escalate the situation. you don't even have to be confrontational. just put yourself between the kid and the adult. eye contact also works. and if he bumps into you trying to grab a basketball in a pool with kids around he is going to look like an idiot.

+1

I would simply say, "Excuse me, but my son is playing with that ball. He's to young to participate in your game." All business.

I said "stand up" - I didn't say you had to break the leg off your pool chair and bash the guy's skull in with it. There's probably a middle ground between that and full retreat.
Well, given that, I guess what you did was best for you. You're kid is only six, so I'm sure there will be plenty more teaching opportunities during his formative years.

I walk away from a lot of situations for this same reason. I don't have a good track record of keeping my cool after somebody sets me off. I've decided I'd rather not become that guy. It seems awfully justified to me in the moment then after the fact I see myself from other people's perspectives and I wonder when I became the one that went off the deep end.

I'd have to weigh the pros of me feeling good confronting the a$$hat vs. my exposing my kid to grownups behaving badly. Reminds me of this new TV ad.

Pool chairs were those chinsly plastic ones, so that was out. This guy kept trying to make 100 yard baskets, and I watched him almost bean a few other people. I wanted to wing him in the side of the face with the b ball, and see where it went from there. I took a minute to think about it , and just left , figured it was the smart thing to do .
Please do not think this was a retreat out of cowardice. Just decided it was better to leave this one alone. My kid did not seem to bothered by it, we were having a blast.
I wished I had done what VaSteve, and Harddrive suggested. I was a little bothered that I let it slide, but I do not always have a cool head.

You know yourself better than anyone.
Every situation is different and should be handled accordingly.
Tough call. It's your sons birthday.don't want it spoiled by some confrontation with an idiot.
In your sitch I would have let him know you were watching .if it kept up I would have said something.
Kids always remember when you stick up for them.

I had a similar sitch happen to me a couple summers ago at a birthday/pool party.
My firends little girl who I looked after was in the pool with some other kids having fun on an air mattress. This adult ,maybe a parent I don't know thought it would be fun to toss the kids into the air from the mattress. Maybe his kids liked it but all I heard was a deafening scream and then B swimming to the edge of the pool crying her eyes out scared to death.It got everyones attention and I was over there in a milli second. When she told me what happened I looked at the guy and he came over to say sorry and I just said Is this your little girl?he said no and I said RIGHT. STAY AWAY FROM HER. Then I sat on the diving board and watched him till he got out .
I'll say this .He's lucky her mother was not there.
When you see that protective motherly instinct kick in, look out

Pretend to play with your 6year old in the pool....Look for another basketball to beam said A-hole upside his head....then again pretend to scold 6year old for missing your chunk for said a-holes head!

Best answer. ( although knowing myself, I wouldnt have been that calm.)