From working for over seven years at several public pools (and still to this day), I've come to notice something.

Dozens of children come unattended, and they raise hell as they please.

No, I'm not talking about the bulk sum of kids that are over the age of 14. They also raise hell, yes, but they're at least old enough to be left unattended in their own home, so they can be dropped off at a public place.

I'm talking about the bumbling, fumbling toddlers to tweens. The ones who really don't know how to behave and shouldn't be left alone without supervision. And yet, they are! I've seen thousands of kids in my lifeguarding experience left alone without parents.

The same kids (about six to seven years old) would come in every day, mainly in my hometown, lay their towels on the lawn and sunbathe for ten minutes before jumping into the shallow end where they can't even touch the bottom. Those were my repeat rescues, and I would constantly direct them to the baby pool. They're still young enough where they haven't memorized their parents' or grandparents' phone numbers, and, at one point, they stopped attempting to help us.

We could never catch who was dropping them off.

They'd drop them off at the playground on the other side of the parking lot, so the kids could "play" and the guardian could leave undetected.

It is sick to think that people want to leave their children in a world where kids could easily get kidnapped, groomed by predators, or get hurt by other people who don't have their best interest at heart.

As parents, you should be able to parent and care about what your child is doing. For crying out loud, they aren't adults! I'm not saying to lock your kids in the house, but think! Your kids, at those ages, don't know how to swim, behave around others appropriately, and shouldn't be left alone!

Do you think they like going places alone?

I've had kids so terrified they're alone that they won't even talk to the lifeguards. They don't trust us! They know they're alone and shouldn't be because you aren't there.

It is at these pivotal points in a child's life that they need their parents. They don't start to pull away until high school, and they're still attached by the time they're out of college, usually!

I know this is a pretty rant-y article, but, in all honesty, parents aren't parents anymore! They don't make rules. They don't care enough for their kid's safety to even go with them places or send a trusted individual to go with the child! They don't do anything.

Just parent for crying out loud.

That's all I ask.

I don't want your kid needing a rescue from me and not have their parent there to comfort them and take them home.

It happens more than it needs to, so please straighten up your act, parents.